Sonic - Forever Changed
by DarkShadowNin
Summary: Eggman creates a new device, with this new device that he calls "Project Speedkiller" he'll create the ultimate weapon. But, great weapons aren't created. Their born. But first, he'll need a donor. Sonic is shocked when he finds out who it is. Hayden on the other hand, feels like he called it from the start. (OCxFem!Tails) (SonicxBunnie)
1. The Return of Family and Friends

**Chapter One.**

Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik had finally done it. He had created the perfect machine that would help him defeat that blasted Sonic! But it would take some time for it to come into fruition. But once it did, Sonic had no chance! Eggman began to laugh maniacally at his plan.

His robot lacky's Orbot and Cubot began to question what their creator's plan was.

"So, boss, what IS your plan exactly?" Cubot asked.

"In time, Cubot, in time..." Eggman said before he chuckled darkly.

Orbot and Cubot looked at each other before they shrugged and shook their heads. Whatever Eggman was planing, he meant business this time.

~Scene Change~

Sonic The Hedgehog was -for the first time in a long time- calmly walking towards Staition Square's train station. His brother and sister were coming back in town after four years studying abroad -for separate reasons- Manic had gone to study criminology, he had dreams of becoming a police officer. Sonia on the other hand was learning how to be a teacher. Both had stepped away from the hero business after an accident involving one of Manic's old friends.

But, today they would be home for good, both pursuing the jobs of their dreams. And Sonic couldn't be any more proud of them. Unless they gave him a lifetime supply of chilli dogs. Then he'd literally kill for them!...Okay, maybe not that. Sonic could never bring himself to take another life. Not even for unlimited chilli dogs.

As he got closer to the station he saw some of his friends were already there. Knuckles was patting himself down, most likely attempting to make himself look better for Sonia. Tails was there as well. He had gotten pretty close with Sonic's siblings when he met them. He looked ecstatic to see them again. Rouge and Shadow were there as well. Sonia and Rouge were gal pals so Rouge would be happy to see Sonia again, she had most likely dragged poor Shadow with her as he didn't look to happy to be there. But then again, Shadow's never happy about anything. Sonic had also spotted Sally, Amy and few others in the crowd as well.

When Sonia had called him, she had told him that they had a surprise for the whole group. What it was, Sonic had no clue. But he was happy to see his siblings again after so long.

Tails looked to his right and gave off a happy shout:

"Sonic! I can't believe I am saying this- But about time! What took you so long? You are literally the fastest thing alive. Why are you the last one here?"

"I decided to walk from the apartment, can't a guy take a peaceful walk?" Sonic said.

Tails just rolled his eyes at his friends antics.

The train rolled into the station and everyone got antsy with anticipation. What would they say? What would they look like? Would they still remember them? So many thoughts were racing through all of their heads.

As the passengers all came walking out of building Sonic heard a familiar voice call out to him:

"Sonic! Over here!"

It was Sonia. She was practically running down the steps-luggage and all-in a mad dash to get to her twin.

Sonic's face broke out into a huge grin and he quickly walked up to her, he then pulled her into a bear hug. The two began laughing as Sonic lifted her into the air and spun in a circle.

"Dude, where's my spin hug?" Manic asked from the top of the stairs.

Most of the other visitors/returning residents had already left, leaving only a few people in the immediate area.

"Manic! Get over here bro!" Sonic exclaimed.

Manic ran over to stand next his siblings. Standing in front of Sonia and Manic, Sonic took their appearance's in. Sonia hadn't changed much over the course of four years. However, she had changed her dress out for a pair of cargo jeans with a plaid skirt over it and a "Fall Out Boy" T-shirt. She had also switched her high heels for a comfy looking pair of converse.

Manic had also changed up his style, just not as drastically as Sonia had. Instead of the old vest he once had, Manic now sported an open orange hoodie over a simple black shirt. He also had on a pair of cargo jeans but retained his old style of shoes. He also re-pierced his ears.

"Dang guys, you've changed on us!" Tails exclaimed from behind Sonic.

"So, what was the surprise?" Sonic asked.

"Oh! Right! Dude, get out here!" Manic yelled behind him.

Everyone looked up to see a third person walk out of the building. A violet colored hedgehog made his way outside with a dull look on his face. He wore a simple black vest with a slightly ripped red plaid scarf around his neck. He had a large burn mark on one of his arms while the other was replaced with a metallic arm. He wore a pair of combat boots. His right eye was a piercing hazel while the left was a milky white, indicating he was blind in that eye. His bangs were poking forward in three waves. He had two vertical scars running down the left side of his face. Slung over his shoulder was a single travel bag.

He looked over everyone with a small grin, before it broke out into a full on smile. He shyly rubbed the back of his head with his left arm-the organic one- and looked away.

"H-Hey guys, long time no see huh?" He said with a thick country accent.

Sonic smiled at his brother's friend. Before he could say anything, Tails rushed past him while exclaiming:

"HAYDEN!!!" Tails then threw himself on to the hedgehog with a gleeful squeak.

"Heya, been a while huh?" Hayden asked as he hugged Tails with his normal arm.

"You think!?" Came Tails' muffled voice from within Hayden's scarf.

Everyone began to bombard Hayden with questions about where he went and what he did while he was gone. Hayden tried to shy away but Manic and Sonia had grabbed him by the arms and began to walk with him trapped in between them. Thankfully, the attention had fallen off of him and had switched to Sonic's siblings and how their studies had gone and if they were home for good.

"Yup, my dudes we are back for good now. Save for needing to go back for graduation, but that's it!" Was Manic's response.

"We aren't the only ones either! Hayden's back for good as well!" Sonia added.

Shadow and Rouge had left the group to return to her night club to prep for tonight's big party. Knuckles then left saying he was happy to see them again, but he needed to return to the Island to guard the Master Emerald. Amy and Sally were the last to leave the group and had told Sonia that they would see her and the others later tonight at the party.

Sonic and co made it back to Sonic's apartment and Sonic told his siblings that he'd gladly let them stay with him until they were on their feet again. Sonic attempted to extend the offer to Hayden, but the violet hedgehog denied the offer.

Tails then said:

"If you don't want to stay here, you can take one of the guest rooms in my place."

Hayden looked at the fox, he had grown in the past four years. How much had he missed in his own self imposed exile? He had no idea.

"Are ya sure?" He asked.

"Of course! You think I'm gonna let you leave again?" Tails joked

"I reckon ya won't." Hayden replied.

After a big lunch, Hayden and Tails said their goodbyes and left for Tails' place in Mystic Ruins. Hayden hadn't packed much from where ever he had come from. So there wasn't much to unpack. Tails had asked if it was okay for them to head to the store to pick up some stuff that Tails needed to get so he could restock. Hayden said that he didn't mind. So, they went to the store.

Hyden learned that Tails didn't have many greens in his diet, deciding to help with that, he began to point out some things that he could use to make more wholesome and rounded meals. After getting everything they needed, they went to check out. Once there, the clerk gave the two a odd look.

"Oh? Is this your girlfriend? I enjoy talking with more progressive couples!" She said to Hayden.

"Uhh...I'm a guy..." Tails said, slightly offended.

"Oh my God! I am SO sorry!" She said with an apologetic look.

"Why I oughta-" Tails began to say

"It's quite alright, he's mistaken for a girl all the time, just something about the way he walks." Hayden said with his normal thick drawl.

"Oh...you aren't from around here, are you?" She asked with a confused look while she continued to run their things through the machine.

"Nah, Born an' raised in tha Downunda." Hayden told her.

"Cool, I've never been, anyway that'll be four hundred rings."

Tails began to rummage through his bag looking for the rings. While Tails was doing that Hayden pulled out his ring pouch and handed the amount requested to the clerk.

"Thank ya for yer time miss..." Hayden looked at her name tag.

"Honey, that's a nice name." He said and flashed her a smile.

"You are very welcome, you two have a good night!" She said as Hayden put the bags in their cart.

Once they got to the house Tails let them in. Hayden helped carry the groceries into the house. Tails had a pretty big place, bigger than it should be for a single person to live in. Looking around Hayden saw the place was definitely 'Tails'. It had random blueprints thrown about and tools resting on the counters and tables. The house had an orange color scheme to it. Orange curtains, orange couch and even an orange Wii U. Hayden inwardly laughed at the assault on the eyes (or in his case, the eye). But smiled to himself regardless. The last time he was in here was when he lost his arm.

Hayden carried the groceries that he had with him into the kitchen. Tails looked over at him and smiled. Hayden had been one of his first friends, him and Hedgehog triplets were his first and most trusted friends. Tails knew that he could tell Hayden anything and he would still be the same old stoic hick from before. He'll, Tails was sure that if he asked him to, Hayden would help him hide a body and he'd say nothing to anyone.

"I can show you to your room if you'd like. So that you can unpack." Tails said

"Hn" was the only response that he got from the man.

Hayden began to help him put the groceries away, clearly more focused on helping Tails then settling in. Once they were done putting the groceries away, Tails showed Hayden where his room was.

"Just across the way from mine. Its one of the smaller rooms. I hope you don't mind." Tails said.

"Not at all, I don't have much anyway." Hayden said.

"Then I'll leave you to it. Rouge is throwing a party at Club Rouge later tonight, as a celebration for Sonia and Manic's graduation, and for your safe return..." Tails said the last part softly.

Hayden put his bag on the bed and began to unpack.

"I'll be down shortly, if you wanna leave early." Hayden told him.

Tails nodded and left the hedgehog to unpack his things. Hayden opened his bag and gently pulled the things inside. Inside the bag were a few shirts, a pair of gloves, a few different colored scarfs and some framed photos. Hayden gazed at the last photo with a small smile, it was taken the day before the last mission that Team Spector went on together. The day before Metal Sonic nearly killed him and one week before his self imposed exile.

Hayden placed his scared hand onto his left side of his face. Feeling the deep scars that were permanently scratched into his face. He let out a sigh and looked down at his metal arm. It was beginning to rust, he'd lose it if it wasn't looked at by someone soon. Hayden loathed the idea of having anyone but Tails look at it. After all, it was him that gave this arm to him.

Hayden began to place what few belongings he had in and on the dresser. And with a smile and a nod. He left the room.

He walked back into the kitchen to see an amusing sight. Tails was trying to place a plate on the top shelf of one of the cabinets, but couldn't quite reach it. Just before Tails began to hover to reach the desired shelf, Hayden walked over and took it from him and placed it with its plate siblings. Hayden turned and went to pat Tails on the head when his metal arm broke off and fell to the ground. It let off a loud clank noise when it hit the floor. Both men looked down at the rusty arm and had different reactions to what just happened. Tails looked shocked while Hayden just sighed.

"What the- Workshop. Now." Tails ordered

"Okay" was Hayden's only response.

Once the two made it into the workshop, Tails instructed Hayden to sit near a table. Complying with the mechanics wishes, Hayden sat without a complaint. Tails set to work looking for a replacement. Hayden looked around while Tails looked for the new arm. So many new inventions populated the workshop, but what interested him the most was a robotic arm in a glass case. It looked like the one Hayden had a short while ago, just much sleeker and obviously newer.

Tails surprised Hayden by walking over to the case and giving off a quiet 'Ah-ha!'. Before opening it and pulling out the arm. Tails walked over to Hayden with a big grin and said:

"I made this about two years ago, I had hoped you'd come back for my birthday, and I planned on giving it to you then, but you didn't show. So I put it in a case to keep it perfectly preserved until you came back. And now that your back. I can finally update your arm! Not like you have a choice to accept it anyway. The old one rotted away!"

Hayden just looked at it closer. Inscribed in the arm read "Hayden, your one my best buds! Never forget that!~ Tails." In forest green paint.

"I wanted you to read it and always remember that you are still loved, even as scared as you are. You are still you. And we all love you, for you!" Tails exclaimed once he saw Hayden was reading the text.

Tails set to work on attaching the arm to Hayden's body. Automail was still pretty rare. But most folk knew what it was. The workshop was filled with the sound of gears grinding and turning as the arm clicked in place. While he worked Tails began to talk:

"We were all worried about you, ya'know? When you ran off, Sonic and I looked everywhere for you...But when we couldn't find you after the first three months, Sonic gave up. He felt you'd come back when you were ready. But I didn't give up, not until I almost died during a pretty bad storm...Had Antoine not found me. I don't know what would have happened to me."

Hayden stared at the floor, feeling bad for what happened.

"Even then, I didn't give up hope you'd come home. Even if I couldn't go out looking for you anymore, I held out hope you'd come home. If only for the holidays..." Tails said with tears in his eyes.

The arm finished attaching to Hayden's internal gears and pipes. Once it was done, Hayden threw both arms around the kitsune.

Tails cried into Hayden's chest for only a few minutes before clearing up. Tails pulled away suddenly. But Hayden didn't mind.

"But that don't matter now. Because your back. And I won't let you leave now!" Tails said with a teary smile.

"I wasn't planning on leaving. I'm home to stay bub." Hayden said to him before ruffling his hair.

"Now, what do ya say I whip us up a nice meal and then we head to the club?" Hayden asked.

"Deal!" Tails said happily.

~Scene Change~

Eggman watched the station square camera feed with a twisted grin. So Team Spector were back? Good. He could use them for the experiment. Well, one of them really. But he'd need to take out the other two members so they wouldn't get in the way. Project Speedkiller was going to be quite interesting.

Orbot came into the room and said:

"Boss, the machine is ready."

"Good, now we just need the test subjects..." Eggman said darkly.

"Would you like me to mobilize the troops?" Orbot asked.

"No, I'll do it myself. I'll be back soon." Eggman said before walking out of the room to look at the beauty that was "Project Speedkiller". And then took his leave of his base...

 **Chapter End.**


	2. A Quick Escalation

**Chapter Two.**

Tails and Hayden arrived at Club Rouge fashionably late (Hayden got lost briefly) but made it there before anything had happened. Friends from all around were there and all were congratulating Manic and Sonia on them completing their training and earning their diploma's. Everyone that Tails had ever met was there, and they were all partying like it was the end of the world.

Club Rouge was in full swing and everyone was having a good time. Hayden sat at the bar and ordered a single Bud Light, not wanting to forget tonight. A good night spent with friends and family. Sonic had walked up to the podium to make an announcement, after tapping on the microphone a couple of times to get everyone's attention the club quieted down so he could speak.

"Hey everyone, I just wanted to say a few things, so I won't keep you for long, after all. This IS a night club!" Sonic got a few chuckles out of that one. "So, four years ago my siblings and one of my friends left us. They left to better themselves, to accept the changes in their lives and the promised to return to us one day. And that day was today. So remember why we are having this closed party tonight. The safe return of family. Because family is the most important thing of all." Sonic finished his little speech.

Everyone began to clap and cheer, one guy that Hayden didn't recognize, who was wearing a green shirt and blue overalls began to scream very excitedly and even started to foam at the mouth. The guy then passed out and collapsed. Another guy wearing red came and drug him back to his table. Hayden was worried for the foaming mouth guy, but was sure he'd be fine. Hopefully.

Manic had been bouncing from person to person to have a quick chat with, ya'know get the 'congrats on not failing!' Talk from folk he doesn't even remember. But he was sure he'd get reacquainted with them soon enough. He saw Hayden sitting at the bar with a beer. He smiled at his old friend, he didn't even recognize him when the first crossed paths. The old jokester personality was gone and was replaced with this stoic rough and tough guy. But when you lose a large part of yourself, you'd never be the same again. At least, that's what Manic thought.

He was planning on joining his old teammate at the bar when he was stopped by another old friend. A black and green hedgehog stood in front of him. His spines were pointing in every direction known to man. His bright blue eyes still had that look of scheming in them. Manic noticed that he traded out his once white gloves with a pair of black fingerless ones, his once blue running shoes were now a stark black and green.

"Ashura? Is that you my dude?" Manic asked in shock.

"Yeah, its me. Been a while huh?" Ashura said.

"Finally got your own look I see. I like the new duds dude!" Manic said while look Ashura up and down.

"Thanks, Sonic and I spent all day trying to find something that made me more...well, me!" Ashura joked.

Manic looked over Ashura's shoulder to see Tails had joined Hayden at the bar, the two seemed deep in discussion about something. Tails was ppinting to Hayden's metal arm very excitedly, so Manic assumed Tails was giving his friend a crash course in some of the new stuff that Hayden can do with the new arm.

Manic decided he'd wait to talk with Hayden till later, and instead decided to catch up with Ashura.

"So, tell me Ash, how's life been for my favorite clone?" Manic asked as he threw his arm over Ashura's shoulders and began to walk to a table.

Ashura chuckled at Manic's actions but began to talk with him anyway.

Sonia walked over to Hayden and Tails and she politely interrupted them.

"And what was with that whole 'Nah, Ah'm from da Downunda.' thing?" Tails asked while mimicking Hayden's accent poorly.

Hayden was about to respond when Sonia began to speak:

"Hey, Tails? Mind if I steal Hayden for a minute?"

Both looked at her with smiles. Tails just shrugged.

"I don't care, I'll be here when you get back." Tails said.

Hayden stood from his stool and began to walk with Sonia as she left towards the door. The two left the building into the nice summer night. Sonia looked out at the city lights with a small smile. She hasn't been here in so long, yet it still felt like home. But she didn't know if it still felt like home to Hayden. She needed to know.

"Hayden." She began.

Said violet hedgehog focused his gaze on her. She could still see the remnants of what he used to look like underneath all the scars. But that didn't mean he wasn't still the man he was before the accident.

"Truth be told, I still feel bad for what happened to you. If I had been more focused on the mission-"

"It still would have happened." Hayden cut her off.

"...do you really think so?" She asked.

"I know so. What's worse is it could have been you or Manic. And if it was, I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Hayden stated.

"Do...do you still think of this place as your home?" She asked.

"Honestly. No. I don't." Was his response.

Sonia wasn't all to shocked at this. Station Square hadn't been home for him for a long while now, not since his parents died and his girlfriend at the time had dumped him right after that.

"But do I plan on leaving again? No. No I don't." Hayden said after a minute of silence.

She smiled at this. Knowing that her friend would be sticking around from now on, filled her heart with joy. She had missed everyone so much when she had left. Sonic, Manic and Ashura more then the rest, but not by much. She and Manic hadn't even known about Hayden's departure until the found him camping out in Hill Top Zone. He had told them he had left for personal reasons and said that he had needed time to think. They had forced him to come back with them when they found him.

This happy moment between the two was ruined when Eggman appeared.

"Oh ho ho! Hello there Sonia and Hayden. Its been a while hasn't it? And to think you didn't invite me to this little shin-dig. I feel insulted!" Eggman shouted at them.

Hayden went straight into attack mode and leaped at Eggman. Not even bothering to ask what he wanted.

Sonia went to run back inside when Metal Sonic appeared and landed right in front of her. With one swift chop to the back of the neck, Metal Sonic had knocked her out. Metal then picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder before flying away.

"Sonia!" Hayden shouted and attempted to stop Metal from leaving, but Eggman flew back in front of him.

"Sorry, but I can't let you get in my way. Consider this your "welcome home" gift from me!" Eggman said before shooting a cord out of his eggmobile.

The cord hit Hayden and shocked him, knocking him out.

The last thing he saw was Eggman laughing and flying away, with Tails following close behind him.

~Ten Minutes Ago~

Tails had been walking around and chatting with some of his friends when he heard some commotion from outside, it sounded like Sonia and Hayden were in trouble. Tails decided to run outside to see what was wrong.

~Present Time~

Tails rushed outside in a frenzied panic. Only to see Hayden unconscious on the ground and Sonia was missing. Tails ran over to Hayden and tried to wake him up. It didn't work but he did mutter something that sounded like 'eggs mag' Tails assumed this was Hayden saying 'Eggman' unconsciously.

Tails frantically looked around for the round madman and saw him and Metal Sonic flying away with Sonia in hand. Tails got angry and knew going back inside to get Sonic would take to long, so he went after Eggman on his own.

"Don't worry Hayden. I'll get her back. I'm not some defenceless kid anymore!" Tails reassured his friend. But weather the words for for the Simi-conscious hedgehog or for himself, he couldn't tell.

Tails rushed off after Eggman, not noticing Hayden's hand reaching out to him.

"Tails...don't...trap..." Hayden faintly called out before passing out again.

~Scene Change~

Eggman returned to his base, not knowing about him being tailed, with the captured Sonia. He laughed to himself on how easy it was to capture her. Just like the others.

"Put her with the rest, Metal." Eggman said while waving his hand.

"And don't put her in the center slot, I want that spot to be saved for the Princess. Got it?" He hollered after the robot.

Eggman sat down at his desk and grabbed his coffee mug. He was about to take a drink when he heard the slightest of noises behind him. The sound of someone trying to sneak up on him, alerted him that someone had followed him. Eggman played dumb until they were right behind him, he then quickly spun around and smashed the mug up against the person's head, shattering the glass cup and sending them flying backwards.

Eggman was pleasantly surprised to find it was not one of the the hedgehog brothers like he expected, but rather Sonic's sidekick Tails that he just threw across the room. There were a few cuts on his face, one of them was sure to scar. But Eggman didn't care. Actually, this worked out perfectly.

"Tails! What a surprise! I wasn't expecting you! But thank you for dropping by!" Eggman said in mock happiness.

Tails stood up, ignoring the pain in his face. And glared Eggman down. He wasn't gonna stand down. He was gonna prove that he could do this, without anyone's help. Tails flung himself at Eggman in a rage. Diving forward with his right arm cocked back, ready to slug Eggman in the face.

Eggman dodged to the left and kicked Tails in the shin. Forcing him to his knees in pain.

"Ya'know, I'd like to think I know Sonic and his friends pretty well, after all these years of us going back and forth. I thought I knew all there was to know about all of you." Eggman said to Tails.

Tails stood again and swung one of his tails at Eggman in an attempt to knock him back. Eggman simply sidestepped the attack.

"But there was always something that bothered me about you.I just couldn't place it." He continued

"SHUT UP!" Tails yelled and got into a fighting stance before he went to swing with an uppercut.

Eggman caught Tails' fist in his hand and leaned down to look Tails in the eye and said:

"That is. Until recently. You see, I bugged all of your houses. Just in case I ever needed something to blackmail you all with. And you'll never guess what I learned from the bug in you're house. You've been lying to everyone you know for a very long time..." Eggman said.

Tails' eyes widened in fear and he said:

" No..."

"Oh, yes. How long have they thought of you as one of them? One of 'The Guys' I wonder?" Eggman said.

Tails said nothing, but rather began to shake.

"You shouldn't have come alone. There's nothing you can do on your own. Except help me with my project." Eggman told Tails.

"I'll never help you! You may know my secret, but you'll never sway me to your side!" Tails yelled.

"Well, my dear girl. Who said I'd need to sway you to my side? You don't have a choice!" Eggman informed Tails.

Eggman then head but Tails and knocked her out. Before yelling:

"Change of plans Metal. Hook our dear two tailed friend here up to the center slot. I want EVERYONE to hear this!" Before laughing maniacally.

Metal Sonic came into Eggman's office and picked Tails up off the ground and walked off. Eggman watched as Metal Sonic hooked Tails to the center slot in the SpeedKiller machine. Alongside Tails were Amy, Rouge, Bunnie, Mina and Blaze.

~Scene Change~

Meanwhile back with Sonic and friends, no one noticed that some of the girls' eyes flashed red. Sonic was a little worried, Hayden, Sonia and Tails had not come back in yet. He remembered Tails running outside roughly ten minutes after Hayden and Sonia, but none had come back yet. Sonic felt like something was wrong. So he went outside. What he found worried him.

Hayden was unconscious and Sonia and Tails were gone. Sonic panicked and raced over to Hayden and attempted to wake him up. Right as Sonic began to shake Hayden, he woke up. The violet hedgehog's head rocketed up as he shouted:

"TAILS! DON'T! IT'S A TRAP!"

Sonic jumped back as Hayden pushed himself up. He began to frantically run around trying to find his friend to stop him from going alone. He did not stop moving until Sonic said something that he REALLY didn't want to hear:

"Hayden. You were the only one out here when I came out and you were knocked out. What happened?"

"Eggman showed his ugly mug. And knocked both Sonia and I out. The last thing I saw was Tails running after the fat man." Hayden said

Both men geared up to leave and find Eggman but were stopped by some of their friends. Amy, Rouge, Mina, Bunnie and Blaze all stood in the way. Hayden began to approach them to ask for their help when Amy suddenly swung her Hammer at him.

"Amy! The hell!? Watch where your swinging that thing!" Hayden shouted.

Amy said nothing and got into a combat stance. The other girls also got into combat stances and bared their teeth. Neither men knew what had gotten into them. That is until their eyes flashed red.

"Androids..." Sonic said.

His face contorted into a look of rage. Eggman must have sent these things to replace the girls. Which means, he might have them as well. Both men geared up to fight the androids and charged forward with determined faces. Tails and the girls needed them.

Amy charged and hit Hayden away with her Hammer before focusing on Sonic. Sonic began to run circles around the lifelike robot before attempting to spindash it. Curling into a ball, Sonic burst forward at mach speed and was met with equel force by the Amy bot. Sonic unfurled and kicked the Android in the face sending it flying. Keeping pace Sonic attempted another Spindash, this time managing to destroy the Android pretty quickly.

Sonic landed and caught the robot's hammer.

"Seems that these things were built with Quantity of Quality." Sonic taunted.

"I'm SO happy you have time to joke right now!" Hayden yelled as he kicked the Mina bot away from him.

Sonic ran over to Hayden and stood back-to-back with him.

"Heh, this kinda reminds me of the old days, just you, me, Tails, and my bro and sis against the world." Sonic reflected.

The Mina bot got back up and charged at the duo at full speed.

"Take a trip down memory lane later, preferably AFTER we save the girls!" Hayden yelled as he blocked a hit from the Mina bot.

Meanwhile, the Rouge and Blaze Androids were gearing up to attack Sonic. The Bunnie Android charged at Hayden from above.

"You ain't getting the drop on my ya freaky fake!" Hayden yelled before pointing his metal arm at the hovering Android.

"Hayden, we need to take these things down fast, no time to taunting!" Sonic mimicked what Hayden said before.

"I'm not" was Hayden's reply before his hand split apart and made way for a canon.

Hayden's canon began to charge a beam and before it fired Hayden said:

"Tails and co. Are not responsible for any and all injuries or death's when handling the Hayden line of Hand-Canon's!"

A large blast of explosive energy came rocketing out of the canon and hit the Android. Causing it to explode almost instantly.

"Who's taunting now?" Sonic asked sarcastically.

"Still you." Hayden joked.

The Mina bot threw a few microphones at the duo. One hit Hayden on the head while the other two that she threw landed at his and Sonic's feet. While this was happening the Blaze bot ran at Sonic.

"Ow! That hurt! That's just like Mina to throw a microphone at me! Why would the bot be programmed to do that!?" Hayden yelled in anger

"It was made by Eggman which means that it most likely...what's that noise?" Sonic lost his train of thought as a small beeping noise reached his ears.

"Does it look like I know?" Hayden asked.

Sonic looked down at the microphones on the ground. They were blinking with a red glow to them.

"The mics! They are bombs." Sonic told his partner.

"Oh, crap baskets. Bail?" Hayden said.

"Bail." Sonic responded.

The two jumped out of the way with Hayden going towards the Mina bot and Sonic leaping toward the Blaze bot. Hayden landed and pointed his hand canon at the Mina bot and shot. Taking the Android's head off.

Sonic grabbed the Blaze bot and kicked it towards the blinking mics. When the bombs went off, the Blaze bot was in pieces. Sonic geared up to attack the last android left when it suddenly blew up.

"Huh? Who?" Sonic said, clearly confused.

When the smoke cleared, Manic stood at the door with a shotgun pointed at where the Rouge bot once stood. Manic said nothing but nodded towards the door, silently calling the two back inside.

The two looked at each other and nodded, before walking back inside.

Once inside the building, Sonic saw that everyone was huddled around Mighty, who had his phone out and sitting on the table. As they got closer they heard Eggman's voice on the other end.

"-and boy do I have a show for you all tonight! I'm going to be revealing one of the darkest secrets that one of the 'Sonic Heroes' has! This my Egg Nation, is Breaking Eggs!"

Sonic saw Hayden was confused and decided to shed some light for him.

"Egghead has a podcast that he does from time to time. Usually when he thinks he has something to expose, sometimes though, he just does it to answer some questions that people ask. He calls his followers his 'Egg Nation'" Sonic stated.

"Now, tonight I've got a special guest! Say hello Tails!" Eggman boomed

"I hate you" came Tails' voice from the phone.

"He's caught Tails!" Sally said, shocked.

"Now, now. That's not very nice! Anyway my dear listener's, today i built a new machine! I call it the _SpeedKiller._ What does it do? Let's find out! Tails. Would you like to say anything before I ruin you publicly?" Eggman said.

"Actually, I do. Sonic, everyone, if your listening. I'm so sorry, I wish you found out in a different way..." Tails voice was thick with regret.

"I'm sure that they will forgive you, if they heard that is. Now! On to the show! Orbot. Turn it on!" Eggman stated.

Orbot's voice could be heard in the background, but what he said was unknown to the heroes. The sounds of a machine whirring to life filled the air.

"Now, let _Project SpeedKiller._ Begin! And I do apologize to you headphone users, I should have warned you beforehand. My bad!" Eggman's voice overpowered the machine.

The sounds of Tails' screams filled the room as whatever Project SpeedKiller was, started to take effect.

When Mighty looked to Sonic, he found that both him and Hayden were already gone. And the door was broken off its hinges, implying that one of them didn't even bother to open it.

"What are we standing here for? Let's get going!" Shadow yelled as he ran outside.

 **Chapter End.**


	3. Not Fast Enough

**Chapter Three.**

Shadow raced off with some of the other speedsters running with him. He had Mighty continue to play the podcast's live feed in case Hayden and Sonic made their way into Eggman's base. It unnerved him to hear Tails' pained screams and Eggman's evil laughter. Whatever this SpeedKiller was. It was causing Tails massive pain.

"Shadow, its changing." Mighty called from the back of the group.

"How so?" Shadow asked.

"You aren't gonna like it dude..." Manic said.

The group stopped entirely to listen to the change. What they heard caused Shadow to curse.

"Please...Eggman...Stop..." Tails begged.

"Why would I do that? It's almost done. In the name of science!" Eggman howled.

"It hurts...so much...please. Make it stop." Tails cried.

Shadow cursed under his breath, due to them stopping, they wouldn't be able to help Tails in time. Shadow could only hope that Sonic ad Hayden made in time to stop whatever Eggman was doing to their friend.

"Awww...it seems that our friend has passed out due to the pain. Oh well, its just about finished, and then, Sonia my dear, you will be next. Oh ho ho!" Eggman exclaimed.

Upon hearing this. Manic went berserk.

"Oh HELL NO! He is NOT doing that to my sister!" Manic yelled.

"Manic, be calm! We'll get there before he does it to any of the others. If only we could have stopped him from hurting Tails as bad as he is..." Silver said as he hovered above the three

The feed suddenly went quiet with a violent explosion. And the sounds of angry screaming. After that, nothing. Shadow nodded to Mighty, Sonic and Hayden had arrived at Eggman's base. The four then ran off with renewed purpose.

~Scene Change~

Eggman was confused. Right after the machine finished its first run it began to fall apart. The test subject's were all knocked out due to the catastrophic failure and core meltdown of the SpeedKiller and had all fallen down onto the ground.

What made Eggman angry though, were the sounds of explosions and angry cowboy noises. Sonic and his friend had arrived and were tearing their way through all of Eggman's badniks. He needed to come up with something fast in order to distract the heroes. Deciding to call in some of his big bads. Eggman activated the rebuilt E-100 bots and sent them with Metal Sonic to hold back the angry hedgehogs.

Eggman then focused on figuring out what happened to the SpeedKiller machine. Something had gone wrong, but what it was and why. He didn't know. Not that it mattered, he got at least one of them. Now he'd play the waiting game. He was about to make his daring escape when his path was blocked by a very angry Sonic. Eggman turned around in hopes of out running the blue hedgehog, only to find that Hayden was standing behind him. Tossing Beta's head up and down. He too had an angry look on his face.

"Explain. Now!" Sonic said from behind Eggman.

"Explain what?" Eggman asked, faking innocence.

"What. Did. You. Do!" Sonic yelled. Eggman turned to see Sonic was barely containing his Dark Form.

"Now, now. Stay calm. All I did was give Tails a gift she can't return!" Eggman said.

This statement confused Sonic. She? Gift? She!? Sonic's Dark Form blinked away almost instantly.

Hayden however, didn't even look fazed by this revelation.

"Leave now. And I might spare your pathetic life." Hayden said venomously. He almost sounded like he was telling the truth.

Eggman understood the threat, but proceeded to inform the two as he left:

"Nine month's, I'll be back in nine month's to claim what is mine!"

"We'll see about that..." Hayden trailed off.

Sonic and Hayden watched the mad doctor leave in his hover craft. The two then turned to the unconscious females and began to talk about ways to get them all out with just the two of them. As they debated, Shadow, Mighty, Manic and Silver all came into the ruined egg base.

"Jeez dudes! I know you were in a rush, but you could have saved at least a few for us to take out!" Manic joked as he looked at all of the destruction around them.

Hayden said nothing as he began to move the girls and hand them off to one of the guys. Shadow had Rouge, Silver had Blaze and Mina (he was using his telekinesis to carry them) Manic had Sonia and Sonic had Bunnie. Hayden then gently lifted Tails into his arms and nodded to his friends.

"We go slow, we're not sure how much damage was done to them. Be careful, and be safe. Silver if you drop them, I'll let Cream use you for Dress-up for a week." Sonic said.

Manic snickered at the threat of dress-up from Sonic. Just imaging Silver in a pink tutu made this day a little better. The heroes then left the ruined lab. But not before Shadow placed some remote bombs everywhere to blow this place-and the SpeedKiller- to kingdom come when they left. They all calmly walked through the wreckage with no words being exchanged between them. Shadow saw Hayden stop briefly to pull something out of E-102 Gamma and then he left the group, he grabbed something out of one of the office rooms before continuing on.

When Shadow asked what it was that he took,the only thing that he got was a 'Hn' from the violet speedster.

Shadow shrugged and followed Hayden and the the others out. After they left, the boys picked up pace and began to jog away. About half a mile out, Shadow hit the kill switch, blowing the entire facility up and leaving nothing but the crumbling remains to remind them of the horrible acts that were done there. Hayden informed everyone that he'd be taking Tails back to their place and would be updating them over the course of the night.

Before Sonic could argue, Hayden flashed away. Clearly making the statement that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. All that they saw was a purple lightning trail. Reminding them that he was just as fast as them. Sonic remembered that Hayden was just about as fast as Amy. And she was only a few mach's shy of capping at Sonic's current speed.

The others ran off in their own directions, with Silver flying off with Blaze and Mina back to his place. Shadow ran off to Club Rouge with his partner. Sonic sighed as he looked down at Bunnie, she had been through so much recently. Losing her uncle to cancer, Antoine breaking up with her and now this. When would she get a break from all of this?

Nine months. Sonic wasn't dumb, he knew only a few things that would take nine months. And with Eggman ousting Tails as a girl, its likely that she will need as much support as she could get. Sonic will question her about the gender lying later on. Most likely after everything is settled. And Hayden, did he know? Did Tails trust him over Sonic himself? There were so many questions that didn't have any answers at the moment. Sonic unconsciously held Bunnie a bit tighter. He didn't notice this until she wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck.

"Thanks fer tha save Sugah-hog..." She sleepily muttered.

Sonic glanced down at her with a small smile.

"No problem Bunnie." He whispered to her.

The rest of the run back to Sonic's apartment was uneventful, outside of Hayden shooting Sonic a text saying that he made it back to Tails' house safely and that Tails was now resting in bed. The text went on to explain Hayden's theory on what Eggman did to Tails. Apparently, Hayden had snagged a few of Eggman's files off if his main computer and was looking over them. There were notes on other projects that Eggman had made in the past, like Project Ashura and something called Project Seelkadoom. there was also some data on Project Speedkiller and Hayden wasn't liking what he was seeing. It said that he'd update as he learned more.

Sonic let them all in and took Bunnie to his room, stating that he'll sleep on the couch. Manic grunted at this and took Sonia to her room. While Sonic took Bunnie into his room he thought about how this day had changed from a good day to a total shitstorm less then twenty minutes from each other. Sonic gently pulled the blanket back and laid Bunnie down. He then pulled the blanket over her and tucked her in. He smiled as her face relaxed into a calm smile as she fell into a deeper sleep.

Sonic silently left the room and saw Manic doing the same from their sister's room. They had all been through a lot, and today was no exception. But there were still a lot of questions that Sonic needed answering. And there was only one person who could get him those answers right now. Sonic walked into the front room of the apartment and grabbed his phone off the coffee table. He needed Hayden to tell him what he found.

Sonic: Hey dude, how's Tails?

Hayden: Still sleeping, she needs a bath, bit that'll have to wait. What do you need?

Sonic: What did you find on the flash drive? You said something about some data files?

Hayden: I learned a few things about some of the cloning projects that Eggman's done. Some involving Ashura, a few talking about something called "Seelkadoom" and a few on Project SpeedKiller.

Sonic stared at the text. The clone projects, Eggman's attempts to make an Evil Sonic. And now. Eggman had drawn the line. At least, if Sonic's fears were true.

Sonic: Tell me about the SpeedKiller.

Hayden: Are you sure?

Sonic: Yes.

Hayden: Tails is waking up. I'll tell you later.

Sonic sighed and powered down his phone. He hoped everything was alright over there. Might as well go to bed, tomorrow's gonna suck.

~Scene Change~

Hayden looked up from the screen on his arm to see Tails was starting to stir. Quickly shooting Sonic one final text, Hayden prepared to assist Tails in any way possible. Multiple scenarios ran through his head as he thought about what Tails would do or say when she woke up. Would she panic? Would she scream? Or would she just cry? Hayden was prepared for every possible outcome. He had to be, as her friend he was required to be her rock when times got tough.

At least, that's what he thought anyway.

Tails woke up slowly, as if she didn't want to know where she was. Was she thinking that she might be still in Eggman's base? Hayden had no clue. But he'd help regardless. Tails' blue eyes opened slowly, she looked around the room to find that she was back home. She clearly looked confused. Hayden didn't say anything, but stood from his chair and walked across the room to the bed.

"Hayden? What happened? The only thing I remember is Metal Sonic strapping me to a machine and then...intense pain." Tails said. Clearly exhausted.

"How are you feeling?" Hayden asked.

Tails looked at Hayden and simply said:

"Sore, I feel. Very sore."

"Can I get you anything?" He asked softly.

"Some water would be nice. And maybe some Advil or something?" Tails replied.

Hayden nodded and rushed off in a blur of purple lightning. As quickly as he left. He returned. He handed the desired items to Tails and sat on the foot of the bed. He watched carefully as Tails took the pills he gave her. After she finished, he asked:

"Why did you go alone?"

Tails' ears flattened on her head, as if she was ashamed.

"I wanted to prove that I've grown since the last time you've seen me..." She said.

Hayden's face softened. All of this pain was caused because she wanted to prove she was better than before?

"You didn't need to prove anything to me Tails. You should know that." He stated.

"I know..."

Hayden sighed and stood. A part of him wanted to share just What the SpeedKiller was, but felt that, that could wait til tomorrow. Tails' overall health was more important right now. She didn't need to be stressed out.

"Well, your safe now. Eggman can't hurt you here, so get some rest. You've got a LOT of explaining to do tomorrow. But that can wait. I'll be over here if you need anything." He said in a comforting tone before walking back to the chair and sitting down.

Tails nodded and laid back down. She quietly thanked him and rolled over onto her side.

Hayden gave a small, sad smile and looked down to his metal arm. He then sent a text to Sonic:

Hayden: Meet me at Uncle Chuck's Diner at four o'clock p.m. We need to talk.

Hayden heard movement from Tails' bed and saw that she was trashing around in her sleep. Trying her best to run from something. Reacting quick, Hayden rushed over and attempted to calm her down. He sat by the bed and grabbed her hand. He then began to tell her that she wasn't alone and that he was there with her.

"You ain't alone kid, I'm here. I promise, you'll never be alone again..." He said after she relaxed.

Hayden remained by the bedside, holding her hand for the rest of the night.

~The Next Day~

Tails woke up a little earlier then she would have liked, but the sun was shining through the window and was demanding her attention. She sat up and noticed that something cold had a hold of her hand. Looking to her right, she found Hayden on his knees. His metal hand was wrapped around hers, his eyes were shut and he was snoring lightly. What bothered her however, were the large bags under his eyes. How long did he sit here waiting for her to wake up? Did something happen while she was asleep that caused him to do this?

She slowly slid her hand away from his and got out of bed. She then guided the very sleepy Hayden to the nearby armchair that he had most likely used as a vantage point and left him to nap. She decided to go make breakfast for the two of them, but didn't know what Hayden would like. She shrugged it off and made the most generic of breakfasts. Bacon, Eggs and some toast. Tails also started some coffee, she still couldn't understand how Sonic was such a morning person! She sighed. After yesterday's events. Its likely everyone knows that she's actually a girl. A part of her was worried about this, while the rest of her was excited. With the secret out, she was free to be more of herself around her friends. On the flipside. What if they were mad about her keeping this a secret for so long? Sonic had always called her his 'little bro' so she figured that Sonic would have reacted poorly to her being a girl.

Back then, she didn't have many friends and was desperate to fit in somewhere, so masquerading as a boy didn't seem all that bad, until Sonic kept introducing her as his 'little bro Tails' things had fallen out of hand very quickly and Tails was unable to fix it. So she played her part as one of 'the guys' and learned more about the male lifestyle then she would have liked. Not that it bothered her much, she wasn't much of a 'girly girl' and could still hold her own in a fight...Most of the time. She finished cooking and put the food on two plates that she had pulled from the dishwasher.

Tails heard the familiar sound of whooshing that usually came with the appearance of any speedster that she knew. However, only one could be here right now. Tails smiled and picked up both plates and turned around.

"Good morning Hayden." She said as she walked passed him

Hayden said nothing but chose to follow her into the dining room. Tails place the plates on the table and turned back around to face her impromptu roommate. She was surprised to see him frowning at her. Tails raised her eyebrow at him, confused about his expression.

"Is something wrong?" She asked him.

"How do you like your coffee?" Was his response.

"Eh?" Tails was even more confused now.

"How do you. Like your coffee." He asked again.

"Two scoops of sugar, one scoop of French Vanilla creamer and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Why?" Tails asked.

"Be right back." Hayden said before rushing into the kitchen. He then ran back with two cups of coffee.

He handed one to Tails and kept the other. Tails noticed that he had black coffee. She shook her head at him. How unoriginal. She had thought he'd do something a bit more Hayden but was bummed to see something so simple.

The hedgehog noticed this disappointed face and smiled. He then held out his hand. Insinuating for her to take it and try it. She warily took the mug from him and blew on the coffee to cool it down a bit. She then took a sip and found it was surprisingly sweet.

"Hmm, why is it so sweet?" She asked after she handed the cup back to him.

"Honey. Its a natural sweetener. I don't need sugar if I have some honey, and I ALWAYS have some honey on me, or nearby." He stated.

He then pointed at his scarf. "Keep a bottle in here at all times." He said while bouncing his eyebrows up and down in a wave like motion.

Tails just smiled and shook her head, she was thankful Hayden was taking this so well. Just yesterday morning she was one of the 'dude bros' and yet, he's still acting the same as before. The two are their breakfasts and had a few small conversations about a few things that Tails had been working on that Hayden was interested in. Then came the topic that she was hoping to avoid for now.

"So, any ideas in how to explain this to the others?" He asked while finishing his coffee.

"Honestly, no. It should be simple. But I know how they think. They might think it was some freak accident from an -inator gone wrong and I couldn't reverse it or something. Or the same story except I didn't WANT to reverse it. When in reality, I was just born this way." Tails explained.

"So just go with that. They ain't dumb. Just say you were born that way and just never bothered to correct anyone." Hayden said.

"I wish it were that simple. But sadly, I don't think it will be." Tails sighed out.

"Only one way to find out. But all of that can wait. You need to rest, and don't tell me you are fine. Because your not." Hayden said.

Tails sighed. She knew she wouldn't win with him. So she agreed.

"Your right. I'll stay home today."

"And no inventing either. You can doodle some ideas but I better not see you in that workshop today, got it?" Hayden said in a fatherly tone.

Tails' head slumped down, so much for that plan...

"Yes daaaaad." She exclaimed in a mock annoyed voice while throwing her hands in the air in an over exaggerated manner.

"Good, now. I have some stuff to do in town. You better be in bed when I get back. Understand?" He stated in a manner-of-fact tone of voice.

Tails nodded and headed to her room. She gave one last attempt by giving Hayden the classic 'kicked puppy' look. But it didn't work and he pointed at the bedroom door. She sighed again before heading into the room.

As soon as she walked into her room and shut the door, Hayden's smile died. He turned and walked out the front door with a mission. Find Sonic, get him to shut up and sit down. Then explain the shit-storm that was coming their way in the form of a very pissy Tails in the next coming months. Purple lightning trailed behind him as he ran off towards Station Square.

 **Chapter End.**


	4. Info Dump and a Vision?

**Chapter Four.**

A green and black blur and a trail of violet lightning could be seen as a pair of unknown beings raced through the many streets of Staiton Square. If one looked looked close enough they could see that a purple hedgehog with a metal arm was racing another of his kind. The second hedgehog was in the lead and was cockily running backward making a face at the violet one. The violet one just smiled as if he knew something, then the one in the lead tripped over a hotdog stand and flew backwards a couple hundred yards into the air, before he landed next too a nearby pond.

The violet hedgehog walked up to the green and black one-who was lying face first in the dirt- and said:

"You tripped Ashura, I win."

Ashura looked up with a frown and said:

"Yeah, yeah. If I hadn't gotten cocky, I would have smoked you Hayden."

Hayden just chuckled before extending his hand to help the other speedster up. Ashura took it happily and stood.

"Since you won, I'll take you to Blue, he's been waiting at Uncle Chuck's place for a while now, I think I've stalled you enough." Ashura said with a click of his tongue.

The two's faces became serious and they ran off in a blur of green and a streak of purple. The hotdog stand owner, one Johnny Bravo. Just smiled at the two younger men as they ran. Those two did this every day some odd years ago. He was happy to see them at it again.

As the two arrived at Chuck's Diner, Hayden thought about what he was going to tell Sonic first. Would he talk about _Project Ashura_ to shed more light on how he was created? Or would he talk about _Project Seelkadoom_ and theorize on what that is and where it could be held and if they should attempt to rescue it or not? Or should he go straight into _Project SpeedKiller_ and inform Sonic on what could be happening to Tails as they speak.

Hayden thought that Sonic would want to know about _Project SpeedKiller_ first, so he figured he'd start there and go into the details about the others if Sonic was interested. Ashura bid Hayden goodbye and ran off to do Chaos-Knows-What. Hayden stepped into the Diner alone and looked around, there was hardly anyone there, but then again it wasn't the dinner rush yet, which meant that Sonic and Hayden could openly talk about the things that happened the other day without worry.

Hayden spotted Sonic sitting in a booth in the back. He saw him and smiled then began waving Hayden over to him. Hayden smiled back before walking over the the booth and sitting down. The two sat in a pseudo-awkward silence for a few minutes before Sonic said:

"Well, I'm here. What did you want to talk about?"

Hayden nodded. "It's about the files that I took. Like I said they are all related to cloning in some way, _Project Ashura_ was focused on making an evil equal to you. Then there's _Project Seelkadoom_. Which is-according to the info I found-a failed fusion of yours and Shadow's DNA. It's being held somewhere in a stasis pod. According to the data I found, it's just a toddler. Therefore being useless to Eggman. And finally, there's the data I found on _Project SpeedKiller_." Hayden explained

Sonic nodded his head in understanding. All of them were connected through the same idea, just different means. But where does that leave _Project SpeedKiller_? Sonic decided to start with that.

"And what of the SpeedKiller files?" Sonic asked with a serious look on his face. He clearly wanted to know what Eggman did to Tails.

Hayden sighed.

"That's where things get tricky. According th the data I found, the SpeedKiller machine was built for one purpose. To create new life."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"In the files it explained that _Project SpeedKiller_ was meant to create the 'perfect weapon'. But In order to create such a thing, Eggman needed a female's..." Hayden stopped and looked around.

A blush formed on his face before he finished his sentence.

"A female's help with the creation process."

Sonic sat there for a brief moment. A female's help? That could only mean one thing.

"You mean to tell me. That Eggman not only kidnapped half of our friends, but had plans to impregnate them all with a _**Rape Robot!?**_ " Sonic shouted. He stood and slammed his hands on the table.

"Yes. That is exactly what I'm telling you. But it gets worse." Hayden stated.

Sonic sighed and sat back down. He felt that he wasn't going to like where this was going.

"Remember when I lost my arm? And how we couldn't find the damn thing after we found my scarf?" Hayden asked.

"Well yeah. I distinctively remember you giving up and asking Tails if h- **She** could build you a new own by taking the scraps from the Metal Sonic that took your arm off in the first place." Sonic stated, not knowing why Hayden brought it up.

"I found out why we couldn't find it. Turns out old Egghead took it as some kind of twisted trophy. And-I hate to say this- took My DNA to create the serum for the SpeedKiller Machine." Hayden explained.

Sonic's eye twitched. That meant what Sonic had feared, had actually happened.

"So not only is Tails a girl, she's also possibly pregnant and due to your DNA being used. You're technically the Father?" Sonic said in a emotionless voice.

"Yes...although there isn't a possibility. There's a 99% chance. Eggman needed this to work. So its highly likely that Tails is pregnant." Hayden said.

Sonic headbut the table and let out a upset groan. Hayden felt his pain. How would Tails react when she found out? Hayden decided to dwell on that later.

Sonic's head shot up and he looked very pissed.

Hayden briefly thought this anger was directed towards him, but then Sonic said:

"Eggman said he'd be back in nine months to claim what 'was his' do you think he's gonna try to take the kid when it's born?" Sonic asked through clenched teeth.

"Over my dead body." Hayden simply stated. Already feeling his anger begin to rise the the thought of Eggman running off with anyone's kid, let alone one that was technically his.

Sonic saw the look of rage in Hayden's eye and decided to change topics.

"What about _Project Seelkadoom_. Any ideas where it could be held?" Sonic asked

"The files say that the Seelkadoom Project was stationed in one of Eggman's artic bases. Likely in Ice Cap Zone or someplace similar." Hayden said.

"Should we go looking for it?" Sonic asked

"Not at the moment. We need to learn more, I'll hack into Eggman's Database and see if I can find out more, the file said that the other attempts to merge yours and Shadow's DNA failed and resulted in instant death of the clones, I'd rather not rescue the thing only to have it die in my arms. Don't think I could handle that. I need to know more and see if the clone is stable enough to save, if anything it might take a few months. You know how hard it is to hack into the stuff Eggman would rather be left alone." Hayden says to his friend.

Sonic sighed and nodded. Understanding that liberating the clone could very well end in its imminent demise. And if it is just a Toddler, Sonic didn't want it to die when it had so much of its life left to live.

"And for now, this stays between the two of us. Not even Manic or Sonia can know. Not until we learn more." Hayden said seriously.

"About Seelkadoom or Tails being pregnant?" Sonic asked.

Hayden stood and walked towards the door. He turned and looked Sonic in the eye and said:

"Yes"

Before flashing out of the door and away from the diner.

Sonic sat there for a moment, completely confused for a minute. Before shouting after him:

"I NEED ANSWERS!?!"

~Scene Change~

Tails was bored, very bored. Hayden had left quite a while ago and since he grounded her to her room, she had been restless, she was still sore when he had left. So she went and took a shower. It left her feeling better and stress free. She had decided to leave the room in search of a notebook to doodle in and had found one on the kitchen counter. Along with a full set of recently bought colored pincels. Attatched to the notebook was a sticky note that read:

 _'Tails, I know you've left your room by the time I meet up with Sonic. So I bought you these to give you something to do while I'm gone. I know that this will be hard for you, but know that we'll be here for you every step of the way. I may not be able to give you the things you had before this mess, but I promise you, we'll make it through this. All of us._

 _I don't think I should have left in the first place, it was selfish of me to think that no one would accept what I had become. It was a silly thought from a much younger me. And I hope you can forgive me. All of this happened because I was to afraid to face our friends as a new and different me. But now I see that, that was stupid. And if they can except a horribly disfigured me as their friend. I'm sure there won't be much of a problem for you. So head held high bub, remember. You can still fly high!_

 _You're pal - Hayden_

Tails smiled at the note.how long had it been sitting there, she had no idea. But she accepted the gifts with open arms. This should keep her busy for the day, drawing up schematics for new inventions and just doodling in general. She may not be able to build anything, but she could brainstorm ideas, so that she has something to build later on. She began toying with the idea of building a new robot, something that could help her around the workshop. But what would it look like? She began to draw a few designs but none seemed to fit. Getting frustrated, she decided to put the book down and just take a nap.

In Tails' dream she saw a few things that confused her. She saw Hayden holding a small hedgehog toddler in a protective manner while shouting at someone

 _"Back off Ivo. You left him alone for two years in a stasis-pod. You have NO right to his life!"_

 _Clearly Hayden was angry with Eggman about this child's safety. Tails was confused. Who was the child and why was he in a stasis-pod for two years? Before Tails could ponder on this topic any more the scene shifted. It changed to her sitting in a hospital bed with Hayden sitting in a chair next to her._

 _"Miss Prower. Have you been...Sexually active recently?" Doctor Quack asked. Not looking up from his clipboard._

 _"No." "Yes." Both Hayden and Tails said at the same time._

 _Tails shot Hayden a dirty look and he just shrugged. As if this was a normal occurrence for him._

 _"Hayden!" Tails hissed at her friend, blushing madly._

 _"What? I tell the truth. Simple as that. You can deny it all you want. But I still remember that night pretty clearly." Hayden said with a sage-like look on his face. Nodding the entire time._

 _"Why must you always embarrass me!?" She shouted before slapping Hayden's arm weakly._

 _"Now, now. What you two do in the bedroom is nothing to be embarrassed about. Its quite magical actually."_

 _"We didn't do anything!" Tails insisted._

 _"My heart!" Hayden said as he clutched his chest in mock hurt, he them fell to his knees and began to weep._

 _"Anyway, congratulations Ms. Prower, Mr. Havok, you are gonna be having twins!" Dr. Quack said happily._

 _"TWINS!?" Dream Tails shouted._

 _Normal Tails was very shocked by this. Her having twins. Wit Hayden of all people? What kind of dream was this!? The scene began to change once again to show Eggman standing over a nearly unconscious Hayden while holding the little hedgehog from before. Eggman began to laugh._

 _"I told you, I'd be back for what's rightfully mine, you can keep the twins, they were a failure anyway. Got to much of their mother in them if you ask me. I'll be taking Seelkadoom back though, with him. I'll kill both Sonic and Shadow. Oh ho ho!"_

 _"His name...is...Damian..." Hayden said as he stood up._

 _"And I won't let you take my son!" He shouted before a black light engulfed him. In Hayden's place stood a force to be reckoned with._

 _If Tails knew anything about her friend. It was that he cared for his family a lot. So seeing 'Dark Hayden' surface. Even if its just a dream still kinda freaked her out. She also felt kinda hurt by the fact that Eggman called the twins failures. She didn't understand why though. All of this was just a weird dream._

 _The scene changed again. Showing Ashura holding Hayden by the throat while Tails held a slightly older Damian back from getting involved._

 _"There is nothing you can do...we have already won. While you're focus has been on saving you're friend. My army has already collected all seven chaos emeralds. And when they arrive. We will fulfill our final purpose. Ending all of creation." Ashura said with a mixture of multiple different voices._

 _Hayden broke free and jumped a few yards back._

 _"I won't let you're ambitions come to pass. I'm willing to risk everything to stop you!" Hayden shouted at his friend._

 _"Then face me! One last time!" Ashura yelled._

 _Both men charged each other at mach speed. Black and purple lightning flew off of both men respectively._

 _The scene shifted one last time to show Manic standing in front of a gravestone that read:_

 _'Here lies Hayden Havok. Loving Father, Husband and friend. Who sacrificed himself to save the world from the corrupted Ashura. May he rest in peace.'_

 _Manic sighed and placed a small bouquet of flowers on the gravestone._

 _"I love you brother. And I'm sure gonna miss ya." Manic said before running off in a burst of speed with a purple and green lightning trail following him._

 _Before Tails could even begin to question this, a loud slamming noise filled her ears._

Tails awoke to the sound of a door shutting. She panicked for a brief moment before Hayden's voice called out:

"Tails. I'm back. You can come out of the room now. Assuming you're still in there."

Tails sighed and climbed out of bed. How long was she out? She had no idea. She didn't even remember what she dreamt about. Just a few things stuck in her head, like the name Damian for some reason. She shrugged it off and left the room. She saw Hayden standing in the living room holding a bag. On the bag it read 'Uncle Chuck's Chilidogs'. Once Hayden spotted her he held up the bag and pulled another out off of the table and lightly shook them. He wore a dopey smile and said:

"I brought dinner. Hope you still like Chilidogs and hamburgers. Cause that's all I got."

"Ah, comfort food. My favorite kind of food." Tails said with a smile. Completely forgetting about the weird dream she had.

Hayden smiled at her and walked over into the dining room to put the food down. He then pulled out a few chillidogs and burgers from both bags and split them evenly between the two of them. Tails sat at the table with a smile. She didn't know what happened today, so she would have a lot to ask Hayden about.

 **Chapter End.**


	5. Unhappy Questions & A Big Rescue

**Chapter Five.**

Hayden smiled, it took a few days. But Tails was back to running at one hundred percent. He watched lazily from his chair in the workshop as she ran around working on one of her many projects. In Hayden's honest opinion, it was to damn early for this. She had woken up at the crack of dawn and had been in here since. It was now eight o'clock and Tails was still going strong. He didn't know how she did it. But when you're cooped up in your room all day for four days straight, any movement at all sounds like a blessing. So Hayden wasn't all that surprised when Dr. Quack gave her the okay to continue her daily activities as she normally would, that she'd be doing them with maximum efficiency.

Hayden's eye watched her carefully as she quickly moved from table to table building and painting and programming each part of some new robotic thingy-ma-bob that she had been rambling on about during breakfast. It took Hayden six cups of coffee to understand the physics behind the thing she was making. But it was apparently going to be a huge undertaking that required even him to get his hands dirty from time to time. But for now he just sat in his chair and watched.

She was in such a good mood recently that Hayden didn't have the heart to tell her just what Eggman had done to her. He doubted that Tails was completely oblivious though. Being a virgin didn't mean she didn't know where babies came from right? The horrifying thought raced through Hayden's mind at mach twenty-two.

 _"Oh Chaos. What if she **Doesn't** know!?!?"_ Hayden thought.

Hayden sudden sat straight up in fear. If she did know, she'd figure it out eventually. If she **didn't** know. She'd have absolutely no idea what was happening to her. He cursed under his breath when he realized he'd have to ask her if she knew or not. He Really didn't want to do that. But he had no choice. He decided to call out in a casual tone from his spot on the chair:

"Hey Tails, you know where babies come from right?"

This apparently shocked Tails as she dropped the wrench in her hand. The tool then fell and nearly hit her foot had Hayden not rushed over and caught the would be foot assailant. Recovering from the shock quick, Tails snatched the tool from Hayden's hand and began to beat him with it.

"What the hell!? If course I know where babies come from you dolt!" She screamed as Hayden made a feeble attempt to hide behind one of the many machines in the workshop.

"Jesus woman! I was just curious!" He called out as he ran back to his chair.

"Yeah well...you shouldn't have asked!" Tails huffed out before looking away.

This is the scene that Sonic saw when he walked into the workshop. Tails chasing Hayden around while screaming about babies. The scene was rather funny in his eyes. Just seeing it would make anyone laugh. Hayden had this horrified look on his face as he tried desperately to out run angry the two tailed fox. Unable to keep himself under control, Sonic began to laugh out loud.

This caused the two to stop running and look for the source of the laughter. Both pairs of eyes focused on Sonic. Who was losing it, his hands were on his knees and tears were in his eyes. His smile was large as he tried to compose himself.

Seeing an opportunity, Hayden sprinted to his blue friend and hid behind him.

"Sonic! Thank chaos you're here! That demons trying to KILL me!" He wailed.

"Well, you shouldn't have asked a stupid question!" Tails reaffirmed.

"I was just curious!" Hayden shouted back from behind Sonic.

Tails smiled at her best friend and then threw the wrench. The airborne tool flew right passed Sonic's head and hit Hayden in the face. Hayden fell back and let out a pained groan. Sonic paid no mind to his wounded friend and walked closer to Tails.

"So, what brings you to my workshop Sonic?" Tails asked, completely ignoring Hayden's pained whimpering.

"Hey little buddy, we need to talk." Sonic said with a smile.

Tails' good mood died right then. What did they need to talk about? Did Sonic know? Was he gonna tell her that he never wanted to see her again. So many thoughts were going through her head.

"Talk? Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about outside of what the weather's like and how Hayden's an idiot and-" She continued to ramble.

Hayden made a saddened noise at her remark about his intelligence. He was about to say something when he heard Sonic begin to talk:

"Let's go talk in the house. Okay?" Sonic asked before picking Hayden up off the ground.

Hayden shot Tails a playful glare as he held his nose, which was now bleeding. He then walked out of the workshop claiming that he was gonna find some tissues. Sonic chuckled before grabbing Tails' hand and leading her out of the workshop.

"And before you finish panicking. I'm not mad that you didn't tell me. Just confused. But we'll deal with that later. Hayden and I found something and I want your opinion on it" Sonic said while flashing Tails a smile.

This eased Tails fears for now. But what did they find? Tails had more questions now then she did before. The two walked into the house and Sonic lead her to the couch. He sat her down and the sat in the chair across from her. Sonic sat a device on the coffee table and waited for Hayden to come into the room. When Hayden entered he had some tissues pressed to his face and he looked slightly annoyed.

"Are you sure you wanna bring her into this? We may know everything we need, including the location. But I'm not sure if we should bring Tails into the fold. She just recovered and I don't think she's com-"

"Relax. I don't want her to come with us. But it'll be a safer, cleaner mission if we have some form of guide. Instead of us running around blind." Sonic interrupted the violet hedgehog.

Hayden nodded and sat down next to Tails on the couch before reaching down to press a button on the device. The small box came to life and opened to reveal a miniature projector. The tiny machine came to life and began to project a small screen displaying information on an Egg base in Ice Cap Zone.

"What is this about exactly?" Tails asked while going into business mode. Her eyebrows furrowed into a deep scowl as she read the info on display.

"This is a secret base Robotnik made to house a single failed project. A project called Seelkadoom." Hayden said.

"Seelkadoom? What's that?" Tails asked.

"Its basically what Sonic and Shadow's baby would be if they were able to conceive." Hayden stated.

Sonic gave his friend a hard look before saying:

"The Seelkadoom project was an attempt to make a fused clone of Mine and Shadow's DNA. But it failed and the clone came out as a toddler. Making it kinda useless to old Egghead." Sonic explained.

"See! It's a Sonadow love child." Hayden said with a smirk.

"I will hit you with the wrench again." Tails threatened.

Hayden sat straight up with an intense fearful look and said:

"Please don't! I'll do anything, just keep that devil tool away from me!" Hayden begged while waving his hands dramatically.

"Anyway. After some extensive hacking and research. We discovered that the clone is stable and being held in the Ice Cap base until Eggman can think of something to do with it. If we strike quick, we can get in. Get the clone and get out." Sonic said while punching his hand.

"But, Blue here wants things to go perfectly. Which is why he's dragging you into this. I guess he wants you to play Oracle to our Batman and Robin." Hayden finished.

"Okay. I'm in. We saved Ashura. We can save this one too!" Tails said with a nod.

"That's the spirit!" Sonic exclaimed.

"If we're gonna do this. We need to do it fast. So let's get ready. The sooner we save Seelkadoom. The sooner we can start calling him something else." Hayden said.

"What kind of name is Seelkadoom anyway? Just kinda sounds overly evil and complicated..." Sonic stated.

"It's the kind of name that Eggman would think is a good name." Tails said with a click of her tounge.

The three nodded to each other and all went to gear up for the mission. Tails ran over to her command center that was in the back of the workshop and set it up so that she could assist the two field agents without going into the field herself. She was a bit peeved at Hayden's sudden overprotective nature. She was fine and could very well handle a simple search and rescue mission!

While Tails was in the workshop setting up the comlinks that the three would use to communicate when separated. Hayden ran off into his room to grab a few things he thought he'd need. He had been progressively making the room more...well, His. By buying new sheets and pillow cases. He had also asked Tails to make a few new add-ons for his arm that he could attach remotely to change up his battle strategy. He opened his closet and pulled a steel bracelet out of a toolbox labeled 'blade add-on' and put it on his metal arm. Once it was attached to his wrist, it began to change. The sound of clicking gears echoed through the room as his arm opened to allow the new part to attach.

The new part slid into the arm and clicked into place. A dark grin fell onto his face. He had been wanting to use this one for a while now. He honestly hoped for some type of badnik to get in his way so he could test the new weapon. Nut for now, he had to focus on the mission at hand. Get in, get the kid. And get out. Nodding to himself Hayden left his room and walked back into the front room. He saw Tails handing Sonic a ear piece, she looked over to him as he walked towards her. She wordlessly handed him the second ear piece with a slight glare.

Hayden knew she'd be upset about him saying she wasn't ready to to into the field yet, he could only hope that she'd forgive him when she found out why. Hayden placed the ear piece in his ear and silently nodded to the two of them. And just like that. Sonic and Hayden rushed off to Ice Cap Zone.

Tails rushed back to her command center and began running diagnostics on all machinery that she was hooked up to. Including Hayden's arm. Her monitor displayed the vitals of both Sonic and Hayden as they ran. Even going top speed, it would take at least twenty to thirty minutes for the two of them to make it to the base. Then they'd need to account for the time it takes to find Seelkadoom and the time it would take to get out. Tails wasn't dumb. This was a risky thing to do without the help of the others. Without Shadow's help. They won't have any means of escape if they get cornered. No chaos control ex machina for them this time. This would mark the first time Sonic's done a mission like this nearly alone in a few years. Usually the Freedom Fighters or at the very least Knuckles and herself were there to help him out. But having Sonic go alone like this, even if Hayden's with him worried her.

She knew how Hayden acted when a mission of this caliber was being done. If he felt whoever he was with couldn't keep up, he'd leave them behind to finish the mission and hope that they could manage themselves. Its part of the reason he was kicked off of team Chaotix. Tails knows that Hayden still blames himself for Ray's disappearance.

"Remember you two. We are going in there to find a kid. Not to wreck the base. So avoid all unnecessary combat. Got that?" Tails informed.

 _"Of course!"_ Came Sonic's reply.

 _"Aww, you always ruin my fun, hun. Fine. I'll keep it on the down low, but you owe me."_ Hayden joked.

Tails sighed and rolled her eyes. She'd deal with him later. Right now, they all needed to focus.

 _"Hun? Is there something I should know about you two? Remember. Open channel."_ Sonic tsked at them. Tails covered her face to hide the blush that it now held.

"Sonic. I don't even want to KNOW what you're thinking about right now!" Tails stated.

 _"Why not? It's tasteful!"_ He joked.

 _"Blue..."_ Hayden threatened.

 _"I can see it now. Romantic walks on the beach. The sounds of little feet pitter-pattering around the house on Christmas Eve. I can even see the day Hayden confesses! He'll suddenly take you're hand and get down on one knee, there he'll tell you: 'I-I love you and...If you're trying to make a better man out of me...It's working. And I promise, I'll be someone worth you're love!' Isn't it just beautiful?"_ Sonic mocked.

 _"Once this is over. I'm kicking you're ass to kingdom come. Got that?"_ Hayden stated. Sounding very ticked off.

Tails just rolled her eyes at Sonic's comments. She then noticed that they were nearing the base.

"Alright you two. You're almost there

Just a few miles out. Let's hope this goes smoothly." Tails told them.

 _"And now that you've said that, shit's gonna hit the fan in no time flat..."_ Hayden deadpaned.

 _"Now, now. Glass half full Violet!"_ Sonic said.

 _"You can take you're glass and shove it where the sun don't shine!"_ Hayden remarked.

Tails sighed. This was gonna be a long day.

~Scene Change~

Eggman sat at his desk in the Ice Cap base. He was watching the monitors for any type of movement. When that violet brat hacked his systems, the boy went after the files regarding Project Seelkadoom and Eggman was expecting the heroes to make a move at some point. Eggman didn't really care if they took the thing or not. But he wasn't gonna just hand it over to them on a silver platter. That much was for sure.

Eggman saw a blur of blue and a streak of purple lightning rush by multiple cameras. He smiled. Looks like they have arrived.

"Oh ho ho! Looks like our friends have arrived. What do you three say we give them the Robotnik Family greeting? Eh boys?" Eggman asked the three robots standing behind him.

The three robots nodded to each other before leaving the room. Eggman smiled to himself and pressed a button on his desk and sat back and watched.

~Scene Change~

 _"Uh, guys. Be advised. You've got three hostile's heading you're way!"_ Tails' frantic voice chimed through Sonic's ear.

"I'll get that twenty from you when we get home. Got it?" Hayden's voice came from Sonic's right.

"Oh shut up and get ready to fight!" Sonic ordered.

Hayden gave a salute and prepared for whatever was coming their way. The two stood still and waited for half a minute before three robots came bursting from different locations in the hall. Metal Knuckles came bursting out of the ground with an attempted uppercut to Sonic's jaw. But he took a few steps back. Metal Sonic came flying out of the the intersection of four different halls. What surprised both of the heroes was that a Metal Hayden smashed through one of the walls.

"Ha! I've gone liget! I've got a Metal copy! Tails are you seeing this!?" Hayden shouted excitedly

 _"Yes. I see it. Now destroy it!"_ Tails ordered.

"Yes ma'am! Finally a order that I can agree with!" Hayden said before lunging towards his robotic copy.

Sonic decided to go after Metal Sonic first and deal with the rustbucket second.

But it seemed that Metal Sonic had other plans as the robot said:

"PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: DESTROY THE SEELKADOOM PROJECT. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: KILL SONIC THE HEDGEHOG." Before blasting off to the right.

"Shit! Sonic. If that thing kills the kid, this will have been for nothing. Take that damn thing out! Now!" Hayden demanded while struggling with his robotic counterpart.

 _"Hayden's right Sonic. You need to destroy Metal Sonic fast. Preferably before he kills Seelkadoom!"_ Tails said

Sonic didn't need to be told twice. He ran off to take out Metal Sonic while leaving Hayden to deal with the other two robots. He was a bit worried for his friends health, taking on Metal Knuckles is hard enough. Dealing with you're robotic doppelganger alongside that would be hard. Even for Hayden.

 _"Don't worry about me, just kill that damn android before it hurts the kid. I'll handle things here."_ Came Hayden's voice through the ear piece.

 _"Also. You agreed with me. Does that mean you don't hate me anymore?"_ Hayden asked Tails.

 _"Who said I hated you? I just find it annoying that you don't think I can handle myself."_ She answered

Sonic caught up with Metal Sonic and knocked it off course. Forcing it into a wall. Metal stood up and swung it's hand at Sonic's chest in an attempt to punch him.

 _"Look, it not that I don't think you can handle yourself in a fight, I just don't want you to overdo it! You just got better and I'd like you to stay that way for the time being and I'm just saying, but you looked kinda pissed off at me earlier!"_

 _"Of course I was. You just randomly asked me if I knew where babies come from! That's not something you just drop on a girl like that!"_

 _"It was an honest question! I was just curious. I mean, how would I know if you knew or not, without asking?"_

 _"Simple. You don't."_

 _"See, that's my bloody-"_

"GUYS! I could really do without the old married couple routine right now!" Sonic yelled as he dodged Metal Sonic's punch.

 _"Sorry"_ both Hayden and Tails said at the same time.

Sonic kicked Metal Sonic through a window into a conveniently placed metal grinder. Effectively destroying the metal replica. Sonic grinned and was about to head back to help Hayden when he heard:

 _"Uhh...Tails, my hidden blade isn't so hidden any more. It just popped out and stabbed metal me in the face. Did you do that?"_ Hayden said.

" _Yup. You're welcome by the way."_ Tails responded.

 _"Since when could you do that!?"_ Hayden exclaimed.

 _"Well, today's Tuesday so...always."_ Tails sassed.

 _"Blue. I think Metal Knux is after you. I don't see him anywhere. I'm gonna rendezvous with you here in a minute. Just need to piss on robo-me first."_ Hayden stated.

 _"You better not! I will not let anyone treat you for third degree burns if you do. I will let you suffer!"_ Tails ordered.

Sonic heard Hayden sigh before the violet hedgehog appeared in his vision with a streak of lighting following him. Hayden stood with purple lighting dancing off of him, clearly still waiting for a direction to run. He stuck his hand to his ear and said:

"Alright. Where to now Watchtower?"

 _"Watchtower? I thought I was Oracle?"_ Tails said confused.

"Well you're more of a Felicity than a Barbara to be honest. I mean, Barbra is a hot redhead, where Felicity is more of the cute, sassy blonde type. So yeah. Watchtower." Hayden stated while winking at Sonic.

 _"I'm just gonna ignore the fact that you called me the 'cute, sassy blonde type' and tell you where to go."_ Tails stated.

"We're all ears buddy" Sonic said.

 _"You're not far off from the room Seelkadoom is in. Just down this hall and it'll be the third door to the left."_ Tails told the two.

"Got it. On our way" Hayden said seriously.

Both men ran down the hall and entered the third door to the left. Once in the room. Both men found it pretty empty. The only thing in there was a single cryo-pod and a small table. The entire room was a bright, stark white.

"Well, that is blinding." Hayden comments as He walked up to the pod.

"Says the half blind one." Sonic deadpaned.

 _"Guys, Metal Knuckles I heading you're way. Get the kid and go! Now!"_ Tails warned.

"Affirmative." Hayden stated as he pressed to 'release' button and opened the pod.

As the pod opened, Hayden got a good look at the child inside the machine. He had black spines and fur with blue highlights, similar to Shadow's red ones. He also had blue marks next to his eyes-again, like Shadow's red ones- and had blue streaks on his legs. Hayden pulled the kid from the pod and said:

"Sorry to say Sonic. But he looks more like his daddy than you."

Sonic shot Hayden a dirty look before walking out of the room. Hayden smiled and shook his head. He was gonna lord this over Sonic's head for days! He was about to follow Sonic out of the room when a screen came out of the ceiling. The screen flickered to life and showed Eggman's face.

Hayden held the unconscious childca little closer to him. He took a defensive stance and began to shout at the screen.

~Scene Change~

Tails sat in her chair petting one of her tails when she heard something that sounded very familiar come from Hayden's comlink:

 _"Back off Ivo. You left him alone in a stasis pod for two years! You have NO right to his life!"_

Tails held her breath waiting for Eggman's reply.

 _"If you want the thing so bad. You can have it. I have no use for a failure like him."_ Eggman's voice echoed through Hayden's ear piece.

 _"Then let us leave peacefully."_

 _"If you insist. The front gate is still open. I won't send any more bots to attack you. You have my word."_

 _"Don't feel bad when I say I don't trust you for a second."_

 _"I understand entirely. Have fun with parenthood!"_

"Hayden. What's going on?" Tails asked.

 _"I guess I'm a Dad now? I'm not entirely sure. But we got the kid. We're heading back now. I'll see you shortly. Also. Would you like a picture? He is just precious"_ Hayden said.

Tails laughed. Leave it to Hayden to have his heart melted by some random kid he just saved.

"Sure. Send me one, but do it when you're in a safe place. Got it?" Tails responded.

 _"Understood. I hope you don't mind him staying with us until we figure something out. I doubt Shadow will want him and Sonic's place is full. And no way in hell am I letting Amy het a hold of him. It'll be like a dream come true for her. He's pretty much Sonic's son. So yeah, that's a no go."_ Hayden continued to ramble on about why they couldn't leave the toddler with their friends.

She just rolled her eyes at him.

"I don't mind, but we are gonna have to baby proof this place when you get back" she said wit a smile. Hayden was just one big ol' teddy bear.

"Mission accomplished." Tails said to herself as she leaned back and rested her head on the back of the chair.

 **Chapter End.**


	6. Harmless Fun, It Begins & A Surprise

**Chapter Six.**

 **Harmless Fun, It Begins A Surprise!**

Tails woke to the sound of a baby crying. It scared her briefly because in her half asleep daze she had forgotten about the other beings that now occupied her house. The crying continued to the point where she decided to get up and do something about. Tails sleepily made her way out of her room to find that Hayden's door was already open and she couldnt see him inside the room in the darkness.

She walked over to the baby's room to see if she could quiet him down so she could go back to bed. Sometimes she hated Hayden for talking her into looking after the baby clone with him until they could find a more permanent solution to his parentless plight. She saw the the door was slightly cracked open and the light was on, she quietly pushed the door open a little more to find Hayden standing in the middle of the room, bouncing the baby in his arms as he fed him a bottle of formula.

"Shhh. If you get too loud, you'll wake Tails. And trust me little guy, even if you're super cute. She will throw you for interrupting her beauty sleep." Hayden whispered as he tried to quiet the child down.

Tails smiled and quickly-yet silently-ran back to her room and grabbed her phone. She returned to find Hayden now holding a sleeping Seelkadoom. He was gazing down at the sleeping baby with soft eyes. Tails quickly snaped a picture of the two with her phone and saved it to her gallery before sending the picture to Sonic.

She then went back to her room and laid back down. She fell into a peaceful sleep quickly.

Maybe, just maybe. She didn't hate Hayden for talking her into taking care of the baby clone.

 **~One Week Later~**

Tails smiled at her friend. He was just absolutely taken with the kid. It had been three weeks since Sonic and Hayden had liberated the tiny clone from the Ice Cap Base and he had stayed with Hayden and Tails since then. At the moment Tails was watching Hayden as he danced around the living room with Seelkadoom in his arms while listening to Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" which, if Tails was being entirely honest, Was super adorable. She looked down at the paper she had been writing on and sighed.

On the paper were multiple crossed out names. Tails was trying to think of a name to give the toddler so that they didn't have to call him "Seelkadoom". And she was just drawing blanks. She didn't like anything that she came up with at all. Tails slammed her head down on the table and groaned. Why was naming a kid so much harder than naming an -inator? Tails didn't notice that the noise her head had made when it connected with the dining room table had drawn the attention of both Hayden and the baby in his arms.

Hayden paused the music and called out to her:

"Tails? You okay over there?"

She looked up at him and gave a tense smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Ah, ah, ah. Lying, is counterproductive!" He said while using Seelkadoom as a puppet, making the toddler wave his arm at her.

Tails laughed at this and decided to come clean:

"Alright. You caught me. I've been trying to think of something that we could call him" Tails said while pointing at the baby in Hayden's arms.

Hayden nodded and walked over to her. He placed Seelkadoom in the high-chair that Sonic had bought them before sitting down next to her.

"Well, what have ya got so far?" He asked.

Tails slid the page over to him and slumped back down onto the table. Seelkadoom gave off a happy gurgle and giggled at Tails' suffering. At least, that's what she thought he was doing. Hayden began to tap the pen she had been using on the table to the beat of Maroon 5's 'Animals'. He then poked her ear to get her attention.

Tails looked up at her friend with a saddened face. She didn't understand why this was making her so upset, but it was. He smiled and pointed at the page. He then said:

"That one."

"What one?" She asked as she looked at the paper.

On the bottom of the page was a name that she didn't even remember writing down.

"Damian? When did I write that one?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I like it!"

She looked over to the toddler that they were naming. He looked so harmless. It was hard to imagine that he was meant to kill anyone, let alone Sonic and Shadow. The toddler smiled and reached out to her. Clearly not to happy with being confined to the high-chair. Tails smiled at the boy and pulled him out of the chair, he giggled at her as she held him. Hayden smiled at the two happily.

She raised her eyebrow at him.

"What's with that look?" She asked.

"It's just...I think you'd be a great mom." He said with a smile.

"What makes you say that? I'm just doing what comes naturally."

Hayden stood and walked over to them.

"Well, some people are natural parents. Others are Shadow."

She chuckled at this.

"I don't think Shadow would be to happy if he heard you say that."

Hayden laughed at her statement before taking the toddler from her. He smiled at the baby and asked:

"What do you think little guy? You wanna be called Damian?"

Seelkadoom giggled and placed his hand over Hayden's face, covering his nose.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes." Hayden said with a weird voice as the baby's hand was holding his nose.

Tails laughed at this. It had been like this since about a week ago. Its still kinda funny to her how quickly Hayden's life had become about the child. Tails pulled out her phone and took a picture. She then sent the photo to Sonic with a smile. She knew that Sonic most likely getting annoyed with all of the pictures. But she just couldn't resist! She had a small collection of pictures saved on her phone in their own gallery. One of her favorites had to be the first one she took.

It had been roughly a week into the two of them taking care of Seelkadoom and what she saw was just to cute to not take a picture of. She had walked into the dining room early one morning to see a very sleepy Hayden trying to feed an equally sleepy Seelkadoom some baby food. It was to cute. Hayden had his coffee cup pressed to his lips while he was glaring at the toddler, Seelkadoom was giving his caretaker a similar glare that just screamed 'I am NOT eating that!' And it was just so cute to her.

A few others involved either her or Hayden dealing with something involving the toddler. Hayden's favorite one was when one of Seelkadoom's diapers exploded right as she went to change him. Needless to say, it scared all three of them. Hayden had remarked that the child would definitely be a speedster with the lungs that he had.

Tails was happy to have finally come up with something that seemed to fit. Even if she had no idea when she wrote it down. She was about to talk to Hayden about something important to the both of them when her phone went off.

 **Sonic: Hey sis, how many of these are you gonna spam me with? Lol. I get it, he's cute.**

Tails was still getting used to Sonic knowing about her being a girl. But he had been extremely supportive and accepting. Far more then she initially thought he'd be.

 **Tails: It's not my fault! I wanna remember these moments!**

 **Sonic: And judging by the pictures you keep send me, you want me to remember as well xD anyway, I was about to text you, I'm headed to the store, is there anything that the two of you need?**

Tails stared at her phone blankly before asking:

"Do we need anything? Like diapers or something?"

Hayden looked over to her with a puzzled look.

"Sonic's heading to the store and wants to know." She clarified.

"I think we need some more diapers, may be running low, and I know we need more baby food and formula." He stated.

Tails nodded and shot Sonic a text:

 **Tails: Some more diapers, baby food and formula would be much appreciated.**

Almost instantly Sonic replied.

 **Sonic: Okie dokie. I'll get those for ya while I'm getting the food and drinks for the cook out today. You guys are still gonna make it right?**

 **Tails: Yeah, we'll be there. Might take us longer to get there. Hayden doesn't want to run with him yet. Not till he's older anyway. And you know what type of diapers to get right?**

 **Sonic: Alrighty, well. I'll see you when y'all get here. And how hard can it be? They're just diapers**.

After finishing her conversation with Sonic, Tails told Hayden that they needed to get ready if they wanted to catch the train to Station Square. Hayden nodded and passed Seelkadoom-now renamed Damian- to her and walked off. Tails stood there in the dining room holding the child when she realized.

 _"Neither of these two are leaving any time soon are they?"_ She thought to herself.

She then looked at Damian and smiled.

 _"That's fine. Having the company isn't half bad."_

Hayden came back with a diaper bag slung over his shoulder and a stroller underneath his arm. He told her that he got everything they'll need for today's activities. Tails nodded and the two left the house, ready to spend the day with friends and family. She briefly worried about how everyone would react to Damian. And if they'd bring up her gender or not.

She shrugged it off. She'd cross that road when she got to it.

 **~Scene Change~**

Sonic stood in a spot he didn't think he'd be standing for at least another two to three years. The diaper section of the baby section of Wal-Mart. He was utterly confused at the different brands and sizes. Last time he bought diapers, Tails was with him. She wanted Luvs right? Sonic couldn't remember. So he just got the ones he thought they had gotten last time.

He had already gotten the things that they needed for the cook out. He then headed to the checkout section. He inwardly laughed at the odd assortment of things in his cart, ranging from booze to bratwursts to baby food. He had it all. He thought about what he and Hayden had talked about a few weeks ago. It won't be long until buying diapers is a routine thing for him and his siblings to do. He made a promise all those years ago to always stand by Tails' side. He wasn't gonna break it now.

Sonic got to the front of his line pretty quick. There he saw this nice looking cat with black hair. She began to run his things through the line, and while doing this she said:

"You've got quite a few things here mister. Planning something big?"

Sonic smiled.

"Today is mine and my twins birthday. We're throwing a big barbeque to celebrate."

"Well, happy birthday!" She said happily. She then got to the baby items.

"Oh? Are you expecting?" She asked as she ran them through the machine.

"Nah, those are for my little sister, she hasn't gotten around to getting more yet. So I thought I'd help her out. We're all kinda getting used to the fact that, here soon this'll be a normal thing for everyone..." He said truthfully.

"How thoughtful of you. How far along is she?"

"Not far, but her and her roommate are taking care of a four month old at the moment. He's pretty excited about it. The kid's already got the poor sap wrapped around his tiny finger." Sonic said while smiling.

"I got a few pictures if you'd like to see them."

"I'd love to!" She said as she got to the formula

Sonic smiled and pulled out his phone, he then pulled up the texts that Tails had been sending him and showed the cashier his personal favorite picture out of the bunch. It was a picture that one of Tails' drones had taken for her. It showed her and Hayden talking on the front porch. Little Damian was playing with some toys that Hayden had bought one day and all three looked pretty happy.

The cashier gasped at the photo. This was not the reaction Sonic was expecting.

"Oh! I know those two! They came through here a few weeks ago. They bought a few strange items. But if they have a kid it makes more sense!" She exclaimed.

"Although, the fox told me she was a male at the time" she said confused.

Sonic just laughed awkwardly. Completely aware of how the lady felt.

"She was afraid to say it at the time. A lot of people made fun of her when we were kids, so she try's to look like a guy sometimes." Sonic lied.

"But thankfully our old friend came home after four years overseas and made her change her mind. But he didn't come home alone. He brought little Damian there with him" Sonic fed the lie.

"No wonder the guy looked so ready to leave. Must have been missing his son." She said with a nod.

"Yeah. Must've been."

Sonic was nearly sweating bullets by the time the lady was done. Once she finished, Sonic paid the price he owed and got out of there. Sonic quickly ran the groceries back to his place. Now, Sonic didn't live in some amazing house. Actually, he did own one. But he gave that to Tails. It was repayment from Station Square for stopping Perfect Chaos from destroying literally everything. Sonic instead lived in a nice four bedroom apartment. It was a decent place and his neighbors were a nice old married couple.

Sonic unpacked his stuff and geared everything up for his large amount of guests. He was setting out solo cups of every color and laying out the drinks and snacks when he got a text from Tails.

 **Tails: Gonna be a bit later than we thought. Hayden got gifts for you and Manic but forgot to get one for Sonia, so we gotta head to Wal-Mart so Hayden can get her something. We'll get there roughly 10 minutes late. Sorry D:**

Sonic chuckled at this. Hayden was always forgetful of one of them on their birthday. At this point, Sonic thought it was a game to him.

 **Sonic: That's fine, I'm still setting up here, so you still got time. And here's a tip. Get anything Fallout Boy related and he'll be spared.**

Sonic shot the text to his adopted sibling with a grin. Hayden owed him for dropping a hint for him.

 **Tails: Will do. Thanks for the hint! - Hayden.**

Sonic went back to setting things up for the party. He had shoed His twins away so he could set everything up perfectly. He sent Manic over to Club Rouge to annoy Shadow and sent Sonia to hang out with her girl friends. He felt they would just get in his way while he was setting up. So he removed them from the situation entirely. He was almost done when he got a text from his brother.

 **Manic: Hey bro. On my way back. Shadow kicked me out. :D**

Sonic knew that was gonna happen eventually. Before he could respond he got a text from Sonia.

 **Sonia: I'm heading back, got the girls with me. How are things going with the set up?**

Sonic smiled and sent a quick dual text to both of his siblings.

 **Sonic: Almost done here. Setting up the grill atm.**

With a smile, Sonic finished setting up for the party by pulling the grill out of the garage and setting it in the front yard. Hayden had volunteered to grill for everyone. So today was going to fun one way or another.

Just as Sonic finished setting up for the party Sonia and Manic walked up to the yard. Along with Sonia were Sally, Amy and Blaze. Manic had Mighty and Vector with him. The two groups joined up and all of them walked up to Sonic. Manic smiled at his brother and whistled at the decorations.

"Damn bro, you are petty efficient when you wanna be." Manic joked.

Sonic rolled his eyes at his brothers remark.

"Anyway, we're all set up. So now all we're waiting on is for everyone else to show and then we can start the party." Sonic stated.

Those that were there nodded to him and smiled to each other. Today's gonna be great!

 **~Scene Change~**

Hayden held up Tails' phone and said:

"Trade ya?"

Tails laughed at him. He had been dying to push the cart since they got into the store. She was one hundred percent certain it was because the cart currently held a very excited Damian. She just couldn't believe that this kid had him wrapped around his finger so quick. She then remembered that he had always said that he wanted a family of his own. And if that's the case, if Damian's the son and Hayden's the father. Wouldn't that make her the...

 _"Nope. Not going there."_ She thought quickly.

Tails quickly took the phone from her friend and tried to hide the blush that was forming on her face due to the thought that just raced through her head. She side stepped away from the cart and Hayden took her place almost instantly. She lagged behind a little so that he couldn't see her face until she was certain that the blush was gone. She was so focused on ignoring him that she didn't notice that he was talking to her. Until moments into his dialogue.

"...and I can't wait to see all of their faces. I think Blue is gonna like his gift the most. You could not guess how much Soap Shoes cost nowadays." Hayden said. Completely oblivious to the fact that Tails had only just started paying attention.

Quickly thinking of a way to make it seem like she understood what they were talking about she said:

"Yeah. Anyway, any idea's about what you wanna get Sonia?"

Hayden looked being him while lightly tapping his chin. He the flicked Tails' forehead, and with a click of his younger he said:

"You only heard half of what I just said didn't you?"

"Uhhh...No?" She lied.

"Liar." Hayden said while deadpanning.

"Okay, I was a bit distracted. Mind sharing it with me again?" She begged while batting her eyes at him.

He groaned at her in a childlike fashion and said:

"I said I was gonna get her that new album that came out recently. But Aleena may have gotten that for her. So I'm getting her a Fallout Boy T-shirt AND the album to compensate just in case." He clarified.

Tails lightly punched his shoulder.

"See? That wasn't so hard now was it?" She asked playfully.

"It was excruciating! I almost died!" He exclaimed while placing his hand on his chest in an over exaggerated manner.

Tails laughed at this. He was just too extra sometimes. But he was her friend either way.

An elderly couple was walking passed them when she heard the wife say to the husband:

"Aww, look at that Han, Young love. They even already got a kid! If only our little Ben could find someone like that."

The husband smiled at his wife and responded with:

"Just give him some time Leia. He'll find someone."

Han nodded to Hayden and told him:

"Hold her tight boy, you look like you could use an anchor."

Hayden smiled at the man.

"I plan too sir. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me!"

Tails hid her face in her hands and let out a muffled scream. Hayden laughed at this reaction and said:

"Sorry, couldn't resist. Now, let's go find that shirt!" Hayden declared.

Tails' only response was to start smacking Hayden on the back as he walked ahead. He was laughing the entire time.

 **~Scene Change~**

By the time the two of them got to the party, everyone else had shown up. The party had begun and everyone was chatting and having a good time. Hayden smiled at the large group that stood on the front yard. This was his family. They had all been through so much together. He silently sighed. Remembering the ones that weren't here now. Ray, Bean, his parents, hell even Scourge!

All had fallen for one reason or another, but he missed them all the same.

Sonic caught Hayden's eye and shouted:

"Hey guys! The cook's here!"

Hayden's face fell into one of horror and he quickly handed Damian to Tails.

"Shit, Manic is gonna attack me! Take the kid, I gotta start cooking before he kills me!"

Tails laughed as Hayden quickly ran over to the waiting grill. She shook her head at him. He was so focused on running to the grill, that he forgot to take the diaper bag off of his shoulder. She saw Knuckles talking to the Chaotix, so she walked over to them to see what they were talking about.

"Hey guys, what's up?" She asked as she got closer.

All five of the men standing before her stopped talking and looked at her.

"...Why do you have a child in you're arms?" Mighty asked.

Vector laughed a little before saying:

"She comes out as a woman, and no less than six weeks later, she's got a kid."

Tails froze at this remark. She had completely forgot that no one else knew about Damian. She laughed awkwardly, what did she say.

It was Knuckles who saved her:

"The kid ain't hers. Look at it. It looks like a failed Shadic."

Tails looked over to Hayden to see if he could help her, only to find him getting mauled by Manic to make the food already.

Looks like he isn't going to helping her out of this any time soon.

She then realized that Knuckles was referring to Daimain as a **It.** For some reason this upset her a bit. She gave a smile with a twitching eyebrow she said:

" **His** name is Damian. And he is **not** a failed Shadic." In a tone that asked him to challenge her.

Knuckles got the hint quick and apologized. Tails walked away from them with a huff, her voice stating that she was done speaking with them for the time being. She saw Espio smack Knuckles upside the head and Charmy facepalming from the corner of her eye. With a smile she walked up to Sally, Amy, Bunnie and Blaze.

Amy and Bunnie gave off little squeals once they saw Damian in her arms. She readjusted the baby as she got closer to them.

"Hey there Tails." Sally said with a nod.

"Oh my God! Who is this!" Amy squealed as she tried to take the baby from Tails.

Bunnie stopped her from taking the kid. "Amy, shuga. Don't you should ask before trying to snatch a kid from someone?"

Amy chuckled awkwardly.

"Yeah... I'm sorry about that." Amy said as she pulled back from Tails.

Tails smiled at her friend. "If you want to hold him, you can." She said while holding the baby out to her friend.

Amy eagerly took the child from her long-time friend. "So, what's his name?" She asked as she booped his nose.

"We named him Damian. It just came to me at some point." Tails informed the girls.

Blaze picked up on what Tails had said a little faster then the others. "We?" She asked.

Tails smiled a,d looked to the grill. There stood Hayden, trying desperately to get Manic to let go of his leg. She saw that both Shadow and Silver had one of his legs each and were pulling to try and get the man to let of their friend. She laughed at the tears that were streaming down Manic's face as he begged Hayden to make him some food.

"Hayden picked it out of a bunch of different names. Damian was just the best fit." She said while laughing at Hayden's misfortune.

All of the girls looked towards the group by the grill with smiles. This was the first time that they had all been together in a long time. Sonic walked over to them with a smile. The first thing that he said to them was:

"God, I've missed this"

Tails laughed at her best friends comment before agreeing with him. She missed this as well. Suddenly, she wasn't feeling to good. She quickly excused herself and ran inside. Sally, being a little worried for her friend, followed her inside.

"It may be my birthday, but I got Hayden a gift. I think he's gonna love it." Sonic told them.

"What makes you say that shuga-hog?" Bunnie asked.

"Just got that feeling. Any way. I'm gonna go inside and get it." Sonic told Bunnie.

"While you're in there check on Tails wouldja?" Bunnie asked in a worried tone. Sonic just raised a thumbs-up in response.

~Inside~

Tails was so focused on running to the bathroom that she didn't notice the two people who were sitting on Sonic's couch. Sally quickly followed after her. She briefly waved to the two, but said nothing to them. She was more focused on Tails.

Sonic walked into the room. Shortly after the first two ran into the bathroom.

"Are you two almost ready?" He asked the pair on the couch.

Looking at the two one could see that they were an older hedgehog woman and older wolf man. The wolf had on a brown leather jacket with synthetic fur lining and a pair of blue jeans. He had bright green eyes that were sitting behind a pair of glasses. His fur was a dark brown that faded to gray. He wore a pair of fingerless gloves and had on a pair of black buckled running shoes. On his hand was a golden wedding band.

The female hedgehog wore a similar jacket to the male, just fur-less. She wore a mint green plaid skirt and a pair of black leggings underneath. She also had on fingerless gloves and had the same wedding band on the hand opposite to the male, she wore a pair of black combat boots her fur and quills were a lighter shade of purple, but weren't quite pink. She had hazel colored eyes and had brown quills mixed in with the light purple. Both of them were gazing after the two women who ran off.

"John, Martha. Hello?" Sonic tried to get their attention

"Just a minute. I need to check on something." Martha stated before getting up and walking out of the living room.

John chuckled at his wife as she left. He then looked at Sonic and said;

"Before we get going, because I think we're gonna be waiting for a bit. Tell me, what all has happened since we've been gone? And what the hell took you so damn long?"

Martha pushed the bathroom door open and saw Tails leaning over toilet puking with Sally patting her on the back. Martha walked over to them and leaned down next to Sally. She silently told Sally to let her in. Sally stopped patting Tails on the back and stepped back. Martha quickly took her place and began to rub circles into her back.

Tails continued to dry heave for a bit after she finished puking. Once she regained control she looked up to find it was Martha, not Sally sitting next to her. Tails blinked a few times. That puke must have killed her. Because there was absolutely no way that Hayden's dead mother was here. Unless she died. Martha gave her young friend a smile before saying:

"Heya kiddo. You okay after that? That was pretty bad."

"M-Martha!?" Tails stuttered out.

"Yes dear?" Martha replied.

"Am...am I dead?" Tails asked honestly.

"No dear." Martha answered.

Tails gave the older woman a look. The asked very seriously:

"Are you a robot sent by Eggman to mess with Hayden's head?"

Martha's response to that one was to pull a small knife out of her purse and cut her hand open. Blood poured from the wound as she answered:

"I am not a robot."

Tails stared at the woman with a 'what the fuck' face before saying:

"Then how are you here!?"

"Chaos Control" was Martha's response.

"Sonic brought you back?" She asked.

"Yup. Managed to pull John out of the Speed-Force as well." Martha explained

"John's here too!" Tails exclaimed

Martha just laughed. Both her and John had died six years ago while helping evacuate one of the city's that were under attack by Eggman when he had the Phantom Ruby and Infinite. She had been killed by Infinite himself while John had been trapped in the Speed-Force after losing a race with the young jackal. And then suddenly, she's standing in Sonic's living room on the blue hedgehog's birthday, six years later.

She and John were talking about what all had changed since they died when Tails rushed through with Sally. Martha wasn't blind, she knew a 'Puke Pack' when she saw one. Which could only mean one thing.

"Who knocked you up?" She asked.

Tails face went pale, as if she just realized something horrible.

"K-knocked u-up!?" She asked in fear.

Martha sighed. Seems she'd have to do this the old fashioned way. She quickly slapped Tails across the face.

This knocked her out of the rut she had been thrown into.

"...I-I don't know..." Was all she said.

Martha looked at the younger woman on shock. She went straight into "Mom-Mode" and grabbed her by the ear.

"You better not be telling me you had a drunken one night stand because if you are, I'll slap you silly child!" Martha demanded with her accent showing heavily.

Sonic's voice came from the door:

"I can answer both of those questions."

All three women in the bathroom turned to find Sonic and John standing in the doorway.

Tails, however, wasn't hearing anything that they were saying. She was going into shock. She was knocked up? Knocked up is usually a term for a woman who is pregnant. Which means... Which means...

"OH GOD! I'M PREGNANT!" Tails suddenly yelled.

Unbeknownst to everyone else. Hayden and Manic-who was still attached to Hayden's leg- had come inside to see what all of the commotion was about and to change Daimain's diaper. They all heard the sound of a bag hitting the floor and turned around.

There Hayden stood with Daimian in one arm and the other was still loosely holding onto the diaper bag. Manic had stood to get a better view of the event in the bathroom.

"M-Mom...D-Dad...How...?"

 ** _To Be Continued..._**


	7. Harmless Fun, It Begins & A Surprise 2

**Chapter Seven.**

 **Harmless Fun, It Begins A Surprise Prt 2**

 _Previously on Forever Changed_

 _"OH GOD! I'M PREGNANT!" Tails suddenly yelled._

 _Unbeknownst to everyone else. Hayden and Manic-who was still attached to Hayden's leg- had come inside to see what all of the commotion was about and to change Daimain's diaper. They all heard the sound of a bag hitting the floor and turned around._

 _There Hayden stood with Daimian in one arm and the other was still loosely holding onto the diaper bag. Manic had stood to get a better view of the event in the bathroom._

 _"M-Mom...D-Dad...How...?"_

 **~~Meanwhile Outside~~**

Shadow had taken over the grill for Hayden while he went to change the clone's diaper. If Shadow was being entirely honest, that thing unnerved him immensely. It especially unnerved him how close Hayden and Tails had gotten with that thing. Who's to say that it isn't preprogrammed to kill everyone once it gets older? None of them knew just what this thing was capable of. Yet here they all were gushing over it!

"Weak minded fools." Shadow muttered as he flipped a burger.

He looked around at the party that was happening around him. All these people could be walking right into a trap and didn't even know it! But on the other hand, hearing Amy state that the clone needed its diaper changed and seeing Hayden's face fall. Almost made him like the thing. Almost.

Shadow looked over to Rouge, who was once again hate-flirting with Knuckles. And sighed. The clone complicated things for sure. Eggman could have very well let them take it so that it would distract them so that they were to preoccupied to stop him. Shadow rolled a hotdog onto its less cooked side and stared at the cooking food.

"Shadow? You okay?" Silver asked as he walked up.

"I am fine." Shadow said.

"You sure? Cause you kinda have that 'I'm gonna chaos spear someone' look on your face."

Shadow looked at the albino hedgehog with a glare. Before stating:

"It's the clone. I don't like it." Shadow told him

Silver just gave his friend a puzzled look.

"What's wrong with Damian?"

" _Seelkadoom_ could very well be a distraction. Or a sleeper agent or-"

"Or, you are just over thinking things again. Like you ALWAYS do." Silver cut him off.

"And _Damian_ is just another failed clone like Ashura was and Hayden decided to take him in so that the kid grew up with a family." Silver told the paranoid hedgehog at the grill.

Shadow glared at the other hedgehog.

"We will see."

Silver rolled his eyes and walked away from Shadow to find a more productive conversation. Shadow watched him leave. He'd prove them all wrong soon enough.

 **~~Meanwhile Back Inside~~**

Hayden's mind was shooting question after question and none of them had answers. But as soon as his eyes found Tails', everything else became irrelevant. He quickly flashed Damian into his mothers arms-diaper bag and all- and gave one simple order.

"Change him."

He didn't even give Martha a chance to respond as he was already across the room and on his knees. He placed his hands on Tails' face gently. He saw she was nearly broken down due to her discovery. Hayden looked into her tear filled eyes and said:

"Tails. Look at me. Okay. Focus on me. Your okay. Your okay."

Tails stared her friend in the eye. Did he hear her? What would he think? What would the others think? She was panicking and just didn't know what to do. So she did what he told her.

"Okay. Good. Now breathe with me. Breathe in. Now breathe out." He said before he began to do a breathing exercise.

Martha watched from the corner of her eye as she changed the strange child that her son had handed to her. It seemed to her that Hayden had changed a lot in the six years that her and his father had been gone. Gone was the sixteen year old joker and in his place was a twenty one year old father of all things. He had a lot of things to answer for. But that could wait for now.

After Hayden got Tails to calm down he picked her up and rushed out of the bathroom. Everyone followed him out and saw he had sat the girl down on the couch. Tails was staring into space. He snapped his fingers in front of her face to wake her from the shock. Once she came back to reality. She began to cry.

"Eggman did this. Didn't he?" She asked shakily.

"Yes." Was all he said.

She looked him in the eye and said:

"What am I gonna do?"

Hayden smiled and said:

"What you always do. Fight and win. Don't let Eggman win this one. He may have done this to you. But he can't control what you do. He wants weapons. Give him the biggest thorn in his side that he'll ever get."

"Do...do you think I'll be able to do that!?" Tails shrieked

Hayden's smile didn't falter.

"You've been doing good with Damian so far. And I pretty much begged you to help me with him. So how bad can one more be?" Hayden told her.

Martha looked at the child in her arms. So his name is Damian. A wise choice by her son. But he's still in deep water with her. Especially if what he said was true. Begging one of his friends to practically be the mother of his child. She was gonna beat this boy something fierce.

"But that's because you and the others have been doing most of the work!" She countered

"Yet you were the one who came up with his name. I hadn't thought about naming him that at all. And he really seems to like it." Hayden stated.

Tails looked down.

"What if...What if I'm not good enough?" She said.

Hayden lifted her head so she was looking at him and took her hands and looked her directly in the eye.

"I wasn't fast enough to stop it. But allow me to be fast enough to prove that statement false." Hayden then flashed over to his mother and gently took Damian from her hands. He then rushed back to Tails.

"Look at him. Does this look like the face of an unhappy child?" Hayden asked as he shoved Damian into her face.

Tails looked at the baby that they had been taking care of for the past couple of weeks. He smiled at her and reached out. She smiled at him and gently took him from her friend. Damian wrapped his tiny baby arms around her neck happily once he got close enough, clearly aware of her bad mood.

"See, he adores you! I'm sure he likes you more than me!" Hayden said with a smile.

"And if you can win him over, whose to say little Tails Jr. Won't adore you too!" Sonic added from his spot next to Martha.

"Exactly!" Hayden agreed.

Tails looked at the group that stood in the room. Sally was smiling at her, John and Martha were holding hands and smiling at her as well. Manic had a cheeky grin and was holding her phone. Sonic had his arms crossed and nodded at her once. She looked at the tiny hedgehog in her arms and smiled at him. She handed Damian back to Hayden and said:

"If you think I can do it. Then I will, on one condition." Tails told him.

"And that would be?" He asked.

"As payback and revenge. You have to help me." Tails demanded.

Everyone in the room held their breath. Martha geared up to beat her son with her purse if he answered incorrectly.

"That sounds fair to me." Hayden nodded.

Hayden held out his hand to her. Tails took it and shook his hand.

Manic then said:

"Dude. Does that like, make you Damian's mom or something?"

Both Tails and Hayden looked at him.

"You make it sound like I wasn't already." She deadpaned.

This time Hayden gave her a look.

"Wait, what?"

She laughed at the look on his face.

"Well, he's been with us for a while now. And, I've kinda grown attached." She said with a smile.

Hayden gave her a smile back before handing Damian back to her. He stood and faced the others with a serious face.

"For now, this does not leave this room. Shadow is already wary of Damian. And I don't want to give him any more fuel to the fire at the moment."

They all nodded at him. Agreeing with what he said entirely.

"Now that, that is settled." He looked at his parents. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but how in the hell are you here right now? Last I time checked. You were both dead." He asked.

Sonic answered for them.

"Let's just say, God me owed one."

"Chaos did this?" Hayden asked, surprised.

"Well, kinda. I also had to run faster then the god of Death to get your Dad out of the Speed-Force. Chaos just brought Martha back." Sonic explained.

Hayden nodded before walking over to his parents. He pulled them into a bear hug and began to cry a little. Tails smiled a bittersweet smile at them. She had lost her parents emotionally a long time ago. They were still around. Just didn't want anything to do with her. Martha saw this and motioned for her to join the hug. Tails just sat there, she didn't want to intrude on their moment.

Martha rolled her eyes at the girl and whispered something to Hayden. Before Tails could even think about what Martha had told him she found herself standing next to him, being forced into the group hug.

"We love you. Both of you." Came John's deep voice from somewhere above her.

Hayden suddenly broke away from them and let out a horrified scream. When John asked his son what was wrong. Hayden's reply was not what he expected:

"I left Shadow and Silver in charge of the grill!" He quickly yelled before flashing out of the house.

Manic let out a scream of terror and followed, shouting about how Silver better have not burnt his food. Everyone else in the room laughed at the two's antics before following them outside. Before she got to the door though, Tails felt someone grab her shoulder.

Tails looked back to find Martha looking at her.

"Yes?" Tails asked the older woman.

"I need you to do something for me before we go back out there." Martha told her.

Tails raised her eyebrow at this remark. Martha began to dig around on her purse before pulling out a pink stick.

"I need you to piss on this." Martha said bluntly.

"Is that...a pregnancy test?" Tails asked.

"It's always smart to double check." Martha told her.

Tails nodded dryly and took the test from the older woman and walked back to the bathroom. Martha waited for at least five minutes before Tails came back out. She was smiling. But still looked shook up. She held up the test and showed it to Martha. The test showed a single faint line. According to this test. Tails was indeed pregnant. Martha could tell that she was still upset about what Eggman had done to her. But, maybe with her son's help. Tails would soon learn that this could be a good thing.

"At least now we know for sure." Martha told her.

Tails nodded and walked out of the hall towards the back door. Once there she looked outside to all of her friends. She saw Sonic was holding Damian while Hayden grilled some hotdogs and burgers. She saw Manic had reattached himself to Hayden's leg and was crying for food again. She saw Sally talking with the other girls. She also saw that John had joined his son by the grill and had a bud light in his hand. She saw that Julie-Su had joined the Chaotix and was lecturing Knuckles about something. Silver was messing around by playing an air guitar with Shadow standing nearby shaking his head at him. She saw Jules and Aleena-Sonic's parents- were setting up a karaoke machine. Martha walked up behind her and said:

"Let's go join our family, ya?"

Tails nodded again and the two of them left the house.

As the two walked outside she heard the familiar voice of Gadget the wolf call out to everyone:

"Sorry we're late. Traffic sucked!"

She turned to see him and the redeemed Zero-Once upon a time he was Infinite- walking through the yard to join their friends. Zero still looked a little shy around his once enemies but Gadget was trying to help him forgive himself. Zero and Shadow don't get along all to well but that's to be expected. She saw Shadow grimace at the two. She rolled her eyes at this.

"Yeah, it didn't help that Mr. Hero here just HAD to stop and buy some girl scout coo-" Zero stopped talking when he saw John standing by the grill.

Tails cursed under her breath. Zero was the one that killed both John and Martha. She hoped that this would turn out okay.

John walked over to the two and patted Gadget on the shoulder. He then looked Zero up and down before holding out his hand.

"Sonic told me that you're on our side now. Is that right? Zero?" John asked.

Gadget sighed.

Zero took John's hand firmly.

"Yes. With the fall of Jackal squad and my loss of the Phantom Ruby, I was left with nothing. Eggman tried to tie up my loose end. But Gadget saved me. I've been in his debt ever since. His order was to join you're side and try to forgive myself..." Zero said.

"Well then, welcome to the family." John said with a smile.

"No offense. But I killed both you and your wife over there. How are you back?" Zero asked.

"Sonic saved us." John explained simply.

Zero rolled his eyes. "Of course he did" he said with a smile.

Tails let out the breath she was holding before walking over to Hayden.

"Hey. Can I ask you something?" She asked.

Hayden looked at her with a smile and said:

"You just did."

"If you make another joke like that I will hit you." Tails warned.

"Alright. Alright. What's up?" He said as he flipped a burger.

"Would you like to see what Martha and I discovered?"

Hayden raised an eyebrow.

Tails smiled to him and held up the pregnancy test. Hayden took it out of her hand and got a good look at it. Seeing that it was positive, he looked up at her with a smile.

"Mom made you check?" He said. It didn't really sound like a question to her

"Yeah. She did." Tails said before slipping it into one of the pockets on Hayden's vest.

Before Hayden could question why she put it in his vest she said:

"No pockets."

Hayden rolled his eyes at her before going back to cooking.

Everyone enjoyed talking and eating as Hayden finished cooking in batches. After a while Jules let out a triumphant shout. Everyone looked to him to see that he and Aleena had finished setting up the karaoke machine. Jules looked proud to have set it up. But Aleena just looked annoyed that it took so long. Sonic rolled his eyes at his parents. Manic smiled at the two and Sonia just sighed. All three of them knew where this was going.

Once they were done setting up and turning on the machine, Jules and Aleena asked if anyone wanted to go first. When no one said they wanted to go, the two of them decided to go first. As the two older mobuian's got ready to sing, Hayden walked over to Tails.

"You should sing with me!" He said eagerly, bouncing up and down on his toes like a kid on a candy store.

"I don't have a good singing voice." Tails stated instantly.

"Karaoke ain't about being good. It's about having a good time!" He insisted.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Come'on! Just one!"

"I said no."

"Please?"

"Ugh! Fine! If it'll shut you up!" She caved, rolling her eyes at him.

"YAY!" He yelled before doing a happy dance.

While Hayden was dancing, Jules and Aleena began to sing "Summer Nights" from Greece. Everyone laughed and some joined in. Soon enough the song came to an end and everyone was laughing. Hayden looked to his friend with a huge grin.

"Our turn." He said simply.

Tails sighed and followed her friend up to the machine.

Hayden took the microphone from Jules happily when he walked up. Tails took the one Aleena was holding out to her reluctantly. Hayden then whispered the song he wanted to sing to Jules. Jules smiled and nodded. Hayden looked over to his singing partner and said:

"Remember, just have fun with it okay?"

Tails nodded as Hayden took his vest off and threw it nearby. It landed next to Shadow. The song started and everyone waited to see how the two would do.

( **Bold: Male.** _Italics: Female._ **_Both: Both.)_**

 **We didn't care if people stared**

 **We'd make out in a crowd somewhere**

 **Somebody'd tell us to get a room**

 **It's hard to believe that was me and you**

 **Now we keep saying that we're okay**

 **But I don't want to settle for good not great**

 **I miss the way that it felt back then I wanna feel that way again**

 **Been so long that you'd forget the way I used to kiss your neck**

Hayden was getting into the grove of the song. He looked at Tails and nodded, signaling that it was her part coming up. She shyly sung her part.

 _Remind me, remind me_

 **So on fire so in love. Way back when we couldn't get enough**

 _Remind me, remind me_

Tails had gotten into singing a little more and looked at Hayden. Keeping one eye on the screen so she didn't mess up. She continued to sing:

 _Remember the airport dropping me off_

 _We were kissing goodbye and we couldn't stop_

While they were singing, Shadow looked down at the best that Hayden had thrown to the ground. He saw something sticking out of one of the pockets. Getting a closer look, Shadow noticed that is was a used pregnancy test. _"Why would he have one of these in his pocket?"_ Shadow thought while he looked to the two singers. _"Unless they are hiding something..."_ Shadow narrowed his eyes at the two before swiping the test and teleporting it back to his house to investigate.

 **I felt bad cause you missed your flight**

No one noticed Shadow taking the stick out of Hayden's vest pocket as they were two focused on the two singing. Both singers were now facing each other. Ignoring everyone else.

 ** _But that meant we had one more night_**

 _Do you remember how it used to be_

 _We'd turn out the lights and we didn't just sleep_

 **Remind me, baby, remind me**

 _Oh, so on fire so in love_

 _That look in your eyes that I miss so much_

 **Remind me, baby, remind me**

 **I wanna feel that way**

 _Yeah, I wanna hold you close._

 ** _Oh, if you still love me_**

 ** _Don't just assume I know_**

 **Baby, remind me, remind me**

 _Do you remember the way it felt?_

 **You mean back when we couldn't control ourselves?**

At this point, both Hayden and Tails had gotten so into the song that they were dancing together.

 **Remind me**

 _Yeah, remind me_

 _All those things that you used to do_

 _That made me fall in love with you_

 _Remind me, oh, baby, remind me_

 **Yeah, you'd wake up in my old t-shirt**

 **All those mornings I was late for work**

 **Remind me**

 **Oh, baby, remind me**

 _Oh, baby, remind me, baby, remind me_

 **Yeah, you'd wake up in my old t-shirt**

 _Remind me, yeah, oh_

 **Baby, remind me**

Once the song ended everyone clapped for the two. Hayden grabbed Tails' hand and made them both do a bow. Both smiled from ear to ear and stepped away from the karaoke machine. Tails then looked at her friend and said:

"Never again."

Hayden just laughed at her statement. The two friends didn't even notice that they were still holding hands until much later. As the day drew on, everyone drifted away from the party and went their own ways. Hayden and Tails took Damian home and drug Hayden's parents with them. Until the resurrected heroes could find a place of they're own. Hayden decided that they would be staying with him and Tails.

 **~~Elsewhere~~**

A protal opened in the dead of night. A single person came falling out. They stood and looked around them. They were wearing a old cowboy hat that covered they're eyes from above. The person looked around as the portal closed.

"Freedom Squad. Come in." The person called into they're wrist. Multiple voices came back through. All of them counted off up to the number Nine.

"Looks like we made it. But we got scattered. You all know our mission. Find and kill Ashura The Glitch. Move out. But stick to the shadows for now. We don't want to announce our prescience just yet. This is Beta, Signing out." The person said.

Beta then looked to the sky.

"Mother. Father. I'll save you both. I promise." He said before running off in a light blue blur.

 **Chapter End.**


End file.
